Of Dreams and Wishes
by Dementra
Summary: WIP. AU. The well has been sealed but her ties with the supernatural are far from over. From a wish-granting object to a wish-granting shopkeeper. Nothing is coincidental. Everything is hitsuzen.
1. Wheel of Fortune

_**Of Dreams and Wishes**_

**Hi! Thanks for wanting to read this fanfic. I hope you like this story.**

**I've recently gotten in an **_**xxxHolic**_** fanfic craze and was very disappointed to discover there weren't that many **_**xxxHolic**_** crossovers, so I've decided to make my own. Don't worry, I'm not abandoning my other fanfics for this. I'm just putting them aside for now while I get this out of my head.**

**I have never read**_** xxxHolic**_** manga — all my knowledge regarding that manga series stem from Wikipedia and some other sites. This fanfic would mainly follow **_**xxxHolic **_**anime with some addition from the manga. But I would be changing the order of the episodes around and wouldn't include all the cases.**

_**Of Dreams and Wishes**_** takes place after the **_**Inuyasha**_** series, with changes with its ending. Also, most of the characters from **_**Inuyasha**_** and **_**Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles **_**would not be mentioned much in this fanfic.**

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

**Vocabulary**

Sengoku Jidai — Feudal Era

Shikon no Tama — Jewel of Four Souls

Youkai — demon

Miko — priestess, shrine maiden

Miko ki – priestess energy

Jaki — miasma, evil energy

Reiki — spiritual energy

Youki — demon energy

Hitsuzen — inevitable, fated

Kami — god

Shikigami — typically portrayed as paper dolls which could manifest as different creatures and follow their master's bidding

Himawari — sunflower

Kawaii, deso? — Cute, isn't she?

Tadaima — I'm back

Okaeri nasai / Okaeri — Welcome back

**Chapter 1 Wheel of Fortune**

It was raining. Not outside. It was a clear sky there. No, it was raining inside, as it had been for the past few months since she had returned from Sengoku Jidai. Everything had worked out in the end, of course — Naraku and his incarnations had been utterly defeated with their combined forces and they would no longer be plagued by the Shikon no Tama.

However, the misleading jewel with a blood-filled history still remained in a fashion. All the souls within had been completely purified and had moved on to the afterlife, but the Shikon no Tama centuries-old power had not disappeared with them. Instead, the now soulless jewel had merged with her soul more thoroughly than it did when she had been born with it. She was, in essence, the Shikon no Tama in human form, except she lacked its infamous (but very costly) wish-granting abilities. Also, ever since then, her eyes had darkened to purple, the colour of a half-tainted Shikon.

She and Naraku (now deceased and unable to inform anyone of the truth) were the only ones present when the Shikon no Tama took her into the world within the jewel, so Kagome decided not to mention the underlying cause of their misfortune and grief hadn't really disappeared from the world. Instead, she had simply told them that she wished the purified jewel out of existence, the single correct wish which wouldn't have any bad consequences.

But it wasn't as if she could correct their thoughts on the matter now — the time-travelling well no longer worked, even with her power boost from the remnants of the jewel. The only things left of her beloved friends and their enemies were her memories, the scars on her body and soul, and their presence in her shrine's history. Well, it _was_ possible for some of her youkai friends to have survived to this era, but they have yet to show themselves.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on her mood), the supernatural world remained open to her, except she could sense all types of spirits rather than only the stronger ones and youkai. At the beginning, she had been freaked out, but she was now used to the jaki and remnants of souls which had stayed in this world for too long.

It wouldn't have been that bad if her soul didn't emit the alluring magic of the Shikon no Tama. Spirits flocked to her whenever she ventured out from the protective barrier of her shrine. Her only saving grace was her miko ki which purified her invisible stalkers from existence.

Kagome sighed as she walked aimlessly around the city where her new high school was located at. She missed all of it —a starry sky not shrouded by pollutants, the reiki and youki-filled air, the adrenaline rushing through her veins during lie-threatening battles, and most of all, her precious friends.

There was no one left around her who she could talk about the supernatural and her adventures in Sengoku Jidai. _(Sure, her family was in the knowhow, but she had deliberately kept the gruesome details from them. If she hadn't, they would've never allowed her to go back to where she felt the most freedom.)_ There was no one she could connect to.

Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi's obsession with boys and gossip had lost its pull ever since she had been pulled down the well by Mistress Centipede. And Hojo-kun's obsession with _her_ had always been annoying. _(Seriously, how many times must he get rejected before he finally got a clue?)_

Sengoku Jidai had spoiled her.

While she _may_ have considered Hojo-kun before as a potential boyfriend _(he may be plain and boring, but he was persistent, kind, and had a good background)_, only those with a beautiful features _(like Inuyasha, Miroku, Sesshomaru, and Naraku — they may be enemies, but she could appreciate his good looks)_ and an interesting personality would interest her now. Moreover, they _have_ to believe in the supernatural and her abilities, even if they don't have powers of their own. She absolutely refused to renounce either of them.

She hadn't met any boys with those requirements yet. Well, then again, it wasn't as if she had been actively looking for them either.

Ever since returning from Sengoku Jidai, a steady rain had been pouring in her soul. Everything seemed dull to her. She had lived the past few months as a physical apparition, only coherent enough to graduate from middle school and enter a decent high school.

Kagome gasped and paused in her steps as an odd, but not malicious, energy tugged at her senses. She instantly traced its origin and her eyes landed upon a beautiful building (its architecture a mix between tradition Japanese-style and Western-style), and its blooming sakura trees, nestled between three skyscrapers, behind a wooden fence. At first glance, she could already tell that there is a powerful barrier around that area; in fact, she had a feeling the building isn't truly present there.

She could have probably countered the barrier's magical allure, but she was really interested in what laid beyond it. As her feet pulled her towards the building, she twirled a lock of her hair between her fingers, ready to pull out her hairstick at any sign of danger.

_(Knowing that being caught with an actual weapon in this era is a bad idea, Kagome had decided to carry slightly-sharpened decorative sticks, handmade from branches of Goshinboku, in her hair instead. Not only could she use it against humans, but she could also easily send her purification powers through them — she could channel her energy without any outside aid, but it took more concentration.)_

Upon entering through the front doors, Kagome was greeted by two girls, with the appearance of a human child around nine to eleven years old — soulless creatures, akin to shikigami, her senses told her. One of them had blue hair (tied up as two ponytails and long enough to trail on the ground) and eyes while the other had chin-length pink hair (partially pulled into twin buns) and eyes.

"Welcome to our humble abode!" they greeted in union, bowing. Both wore wide smiles, but their eyes were as hollow as their soul — their personalities were fabricated by their creator. These two animated dolls were truly well-made, as was the barrier they were linked to; their master must be really powerful.

Kagome bowed back. Shortly after, she followed the girls further into the building and past a sliding door into a tobacco and sake-scented room.

Sprawled across on a lounge chair was a woman (long black hair draped over her body) with the same inhuman beauty as beings like Sesshoumaru-sama, but she wasn't a youkai either. Kagome wasn't really sure what she was. To her senses, the woman was more than just a human, as if she had been partially turned into supernatural creature — unlike Naraku, she seemed more like a kami than youkai.

Her loose kimono slipped further down her shoulders as she slid her thin ornate pipe out of her mouth and breathed out a trail of smoke. Half-lidded crimson eyes glanced at her and rosy lips tugged into a seductive smile.

"Hello," Kagome said, bowing slightly. "Could you tell me why you've brought me here?"

"I had no part in it," the woman replied, her voice as smooth as her milky skin. "Your arrival here is inevitable." There was a brief pause before she said, "What is your name?"

"Kagome."

"And your birthday?"

"I don't see how that matters."

She blew out another trail of smoke. "To give your name to an enemy is to give out your soul. To give your birthday is to give the other person power over your past and future."

Kagome smiled. She could already feel the rain lessening to a mere drizzle within her; the sun was itching to return. "My soul is not mines to give nor for someone else to take. Several have tried and all have ultimately failed. My past is strongly engraved into this world's history. It's not so easily changed. As for my future… you can nudge me into a certain direction but the path you've laid isn't one I have to walk, even if I ultimately end up where you wish. And is it not polite to first give your name before asking for another's?"

The woman sat up more properly, her kimono sliding down to cover most of her bare legs. "You can call me Ichihara Yuuko. It's an alias, of course." She gestured to her dolls. "And these girls are Morodashi and Marudashi, or Moro and Maru for short. Cute, aren't they? And you have a rather interesting viewpoint, Ka. Go. Me. Chan."

"Interesting! Interesting!" Moro and Maru cheered.

Yuuko leaned forward. "Now, what is your wish?"

"My wish?" Kagome frowned. Dealing with the Shikon no Tama had taught her how dangerous wishes could be in the supernatural world. They _always_ come with an equal sacrifice, but the price might be more than the person could pay and the results might not be exactly as desired.

"This is a wish-granting shop and only those who need it could enter. I could make any of your desires a reality." Yuuko breathed out more smoke. "As long as you give me proper payment."

A wish, huh? She had many things that she desired, but… "No thank you, Yuuko-san," she replied, smiling. "One of my wishes was to meet others involved in the supernatural world. It has already been granted just by coming here. I could give you a payment for it if you want. But, there's no need for you to help me with my other wishes. I could eventually work them out myself."

Relationship problems weren't something others could easily help with. And her current situation with the Shikon was the consequence of her wish in the first place. She had learnt that wishes couldn't be undone by wishes.

"Then why don't you work part-time here?" Yuuko said, once again lounging on the couch, her slender legs in full view. "You'd be able to meet more people like us. And it could be your payment as well. You do go to school nearby, don't you?"

Kagome nodded. "I'd be attending Private Cross Academy starting next Monday. But I live an hour's train ride away. Between school and the train schedule, I wouldn't have a lot of time for work here."

The woman swept out an arm. "You can stay here if you want. There's a lot of room."

"Stay here! Stay here!" Moro and Maru echoed, hands thrown above them in cheer.

"But—"

"If you're worried about rent, you can help up Watanuki with the chores around here."

Kagome cocked her head to the side. "Watanuki?"

"Yes, he's another part-timer. He does errands for me in order to pay for his wish."

This was a really tempting offer. Not only would her travel time to and from school be cut short, but she would once again have adventures. Well, maybe not as exciting as the ones in Sengoku Jidai, but they should be enough to stave off her boredom.

"I accept. I'll ask mama about it tonight."

XxXxXxXxX

Yuuko smiled, sipping the sake Moro and Maru had brought her after Kagome had left. It was a very interesting meeting. She had expected the girl to already be involved in their world, but she hadn't expected the vast difference in mindset between Kagome and Watanuki. One was very accepting of the supernatural while the other was still fighting against it. Then again, Kagome had experienced far more dangerous youkai than Watanuki ever had.

There was no way that Yuuko hadn't recognized the aura of the Shikon no Tama. More than five centuries ago, a powerful miko, Midoriko, made a wish to vanquish all her enemies from this world after fighting seven days and nights with a hoard of them. In exchange, her soul, along with that of her foes, would remain trapped in a timeless dimension, constantly fighting for control and power. The only way they would ever be set free from their prison was to have someone from the outside make the correct wish on the jewel which acted as a timeless portal to that dimension

Many had, of course, failed, succumbing to the allure for more power, in their own ways. Wishes had been made but the payment was far too much for them to handle, and they each came to a horrible end.

Kagome had made the correct wish and had set those souls free, but all wishes came with a price.

Regardless, both of them would play a large role in the future, along with their ties with certain people. It was all simply hitsuzen.

XxXxXxXxX

Her new grey uniform was definitely a welcome change from the white blouse and green miniskirts. For one, the darker colours acted as a better camouflage in the city and won't be see-through under the rain. And this uniform wasn't as revealing as her old one.

The school also seemed really nice, though it seemed to have its fair share of supernatural activity. Just before she arrived, she had noticed a boy, wearing the black male uniform of her school, flailing on the road, collapsed under the collective weight of numerous spirits. His pure aura attracted them like flies to honey, but he didn't seem to have any warding abilities, so she had lent him a hand by charging a pebble with her miko ki and throwing it over, purifying more than three-quarters of his problem. The boy hadn't been interested in the reason behind his sudden lack of stalkers and had simply shot into the school like a rocket with a relieved sigh.

He wasn't the only interesting character. During break time, she had come across a pretty girl with a very tainted aura. The girl wasn't cursed or possessed. In fact, the aura didn't seem to bring her any harm. It simply latched onto everything and everything she came into contact with. Kagome noticed that the cheery girl seemed to be aware of this though, since she subtly avoided direct human contact whenever possible.

Along with Yuuko's wish-granting shop, this city was getting more and more interesting. At this rate, there is a good possibility that rain might never appear in her heart again.

XxXxXxXxX

Kagome attuned herself to the shop's barrier as she swept the fallen sakura petals from the front yard. The more she focused on the surrounding energies, the more she was reminded of the time-travelling well — the barrier wasn't a normal warding barrier; it was the boundary line between two dimensions. Just like the well, only people meeting certain criteria could go pass the barrier. Also, though it may have been the result of her time-travelling experience, it seemed to her that time flowed differently here.

Her head snapped up and her eyes darted towards the front gate. There was a disturbance in the barrier. Someone had arrived.

To her surprise, it was the same boy she had seen this morning, the one with spirit problems. In light of that, it wasn't really too surprising. He probably wished for the spirits to not be attracted to him anymore.

"Welcome to the wish-granting shop," Kagome said, walking up to him. "How may I help you today?"

He blinked. "Oh… um… I work part time here."

Her smile widened. "Ah! You must be Watanuki-kun who Yuuko-san mentioned. I'm Kagome, and I'm also working part-time here starting today." She bowed. "It's nice to meet you."

Watanuki scowled, his arms flailing wildly around him. "That pushy saleswoman conned you into working for her, didn't she?"

Kagome giggled. Her fellow co-worker was really cute. He was a handsome beauty, just like Sesshoumaru-sama and Naraku (when in his more human form), with short black hair and really pretty blue eyes, the colour of Sengoku Jidai's unpolluted sky, behind a pair of thin-rimmed glasses. Watanuki-kun probably had foreign blood in his veins.

But something about him seemed really strange upon a closer look. It was as if he was both human and inhuman at the same time, similar to Yuuko-san, Moro-chan, and Maru-chan, except he had a soul and was more human than them. Watanuki-kun most likely hadn't realized the power stored within him, otherwise, he could've easily fended the spirits off himself; he didn't need a wish to solve his problem. Maybe his dormant power was the reason Yuuko-san made him her part-time worker.

"No," she said, answering his question. "Yuuko-san offered room and board in exchange for work."

His mouth slackened and his gestures become even wilder as they strolled into the building together. "You're going to be _living_ here? With the witch?"

"Uh. I don't mind it really. The shop is a lot closer to school than my home. And I don't think I'd get bored in here. Yuuko-san's store is bound to bring in lots of interesting people."

"Yes, but!"

XxXxXxXxX

Her new coworker, Watanuki Kimihiro, may be an adorable idiot on the outside, but he was an absolute _god_ in the kitchen. Kagome licked her lips, fighting the urge to squeal like a fangirl. This was the _best_ pastry she had ever tasted. She could really get used to life in the shop, especially if Kimihiro-kun cooked for them often.

She suddenly froze, as did Yuuko, Moro, Maru, and Mokona (a little black puff ball with long floppy ears).

Glancing at the direction of the front doors, Yuuko smiled. "A customer has arrived."

Moro and Maru showed the woman (tall, pretty, with artificially curly brown hair and green eyes, clad mainly in white) into a different meeting room. Instead of a lounge chair and several other oriental and magical items, this room was by the windows and only contained a small round table with two wooden chairs. This is probably where Yuuko met customers who were simply customers.

Both Kagome and Watanuki were watching the proceedings through a slit between the sliding doors. Once again, Yuuko-san was using her "coercive salesmanship", as quoted from Watanuki-kun, against their new customer.

"Um… As far as a wish goes, nothing in particular comes to mind… But, now that you've mentioned it, my pinkie have recently been feeling heavy and refused to move some times," the woman said, holding up that finger. "I even went to the hospital and had it checked, but they said that there's nothing wrong with it."

Yuuko frowned. "Do you have any bad habits?"

"Bad habits? I don't know. I don't think so though."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, probably."

Thin black smoke circled around the base of the woman's pinkie, trailing off in the air. It was a type of weak jaki caused by humans rather than youkai. A glance at Kimihiro told Kagome that she wasn't the only one who noticed the phenomenon.

Yuuko held up a golden ring with a red jewel. "I'll give you this. If you feel like it, wear it on your pinkie."

The woman leaned forward to take the offered item. "If I do, would my finger get better?"

"It's best if you believe so. If you don't think you need it, you can always throw it away. But, think about it, what do you use your pinkie for?"

Kagome glanced down at her own hand._ The pinkie, huh?_ With her other fingers curled up, there were a few things she could think of in which someone's hand would look as such, but only one seemed to fit this situation.

XxXxXxXxX

"Who is she?" Kagome asked, walking up to Kimihiro. Yesterday, they had agreed to meet up after school to walk to Yuuko's store since they didn't have classes together — he was one year older.

She had been about to greet him earlier when she noticed he was with the girl with the tainted aura. It was odd how Kimihiro-kun seemed oblivious to that heavy aura despite noticing the faint jaki around the pinkie of yesterday's customer. Then again, considering how he obviously had a crush on the girl, he probably blinded himself from noticing the taint.

"She's Kunogi Hima~wari~chan~!" he gushed, bouncing in his steps as they made their way towards the store. "Kawaii deso? She said 'Good luck with you job!' For Watanuki Kimihiro the man, it's looking sunny today!"

"Is she really that great?"

"Of course! Himawari-chan is cute and pretty. And she always smiles. She's as bright as her namesake!"

Kagome frowned. "Nee… Kimihiro-kun, I know I don't know Kunogi-san that well, but I think you should be more careful around her. Her aura isn't as beautiful as her name."

He glanced at her, eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean by that?"

She didn't reply, too deep in her thoughts. Just from a brief conversation with the other girl, some of her aura had already attached itself to his. It didn't seem that dangerous at the moment, but… Hm… If Kimihiro-kun was adamant about Kunogi-san, she should probably make him a charm. After all, she wouldn't want her new friend to be harmed. Her charm-making skills weren't as great as Miroku-sama, but it should be enough to ward off Kunogi-san's tainted aura, most spirits, and weak youkai.

Meanwhile, Yuuko was informing Kimihiro that his face was poor. He countered it by gushing about how meeting Himawari-chan gave him good fortune and arguing that it was a guy called Doumeki who must've reversed that luck.

"But, I don't think that girl would be your Goddess of Luck or anything."

"W-What's with you and Kagome-chan?" He scowled. "Why are you two against Himawari-chan?"

Kagome placed a hand on his tense shoulders. "I don't have anything against Kunogi-san, Kimihiro-kun. Like I've said before, I don't really know anything about her. I just think that you should be a little more careful around her."

"It seems she has come again," the wish-granter said.

Yuuko-san's sensory abilities were really great. Not only did she easily pinpoint Kunogi's tainted aura, which had been dimmed due to Kagome's own purifying aura, in Kimihiro-kun's, but she also seemed to know exactly who was in the area. At the moment, all Kagome could sense was someone's entry into the barrier, but not their identity.

XxXxXxXxX

Once again, they were hiding behind the sliding door, observing Yuuko-san's interaction with the woman from before. Today, there was no smoke around her. Was it due to the ring?

"But your bad habit hasn't been cured," Yuuko said, frowning.

"Huh?"

"How old are you?"

"I'm twenty-one." A large cloud of black smoke emerged from her pinkie with the ring.

"Employed?"

"Yes."

"Where?"

"An advertising agency in project management." The smoke grew larger.

"Are you sure you don't have any bad habits?"

"Huh?"

Yuuko reached across the desk, sliding a slender finger over the woman's lips. "Here's one." Her hand trailed down to the woman's chest, directly above her heart. "And here's another."

"Have I done something wrong?"

Retrieving her hand, she leaned back against her chair. "I don't know. Is there anything else that has changed?" When the woman told her that her arm was also experiencing the same problem, Yuuko tapped the ring on her pinkie. "If you don't figure it out quickly, you'd lose your hand."

There was a crack in the red jewel and the ring seemed dirtier than it was when the woman first arrived. Kagome frowned. It must've been absorbing the worst of the miasma. If the women didn't hurry and correct herself of the bad habit, whatever it was, she could seriously end up in trouble.

As the woman continuing answering Yuuko's questions, the miasma grew larger. Kagome noticed Kimihiro covering his nose, grimacing. _Was it hurting him?_ She drew closer to her coworker until their shoulders were touching and let her aura wash over him. He sighed in relief, bringing his hand down from his face.

"Moro, Maru, please show her out," she said, standing up.

"Yes, mistress," they said in union. "Please, this way…"

Once the woman was out of hearing range, Yuuko commented, "She probably won't be coming back here anymore."

Kagome and Kimihiro walked up to their employer. "Um… What do you mean by that?" he asked. "There's this black smoke coming out from her finger while she was answering your questions."

Yuuko sat back down. "Yes, her finger couldn't move because of the smoke, but I believe she's at her limit now." She held out her pinkie. "The little finger is a very precious thing. Do you know why?"

"It's the finger that typically symbolizes promises and fate," Kagome answered.

"Exactly." Kimihiro then asked for permission to go out, in which Yuuko responded: "Go out? Are you planning to tell her what I said? She has to realize her bad habit for herself. She is the only one who could fix it."

"But, I'm still going," Kimihiro said, rushing out the door.

Kagome lingered behind. "You know she wouldn't be able to figure out her bad habit before it's too late, don't you, Yuuko-san? It has become so engrained in her that she doesn't even realize she's doing it anymore. Lying is second nature to her now. Kimihiro-kun is going to witness something that would scar him for life." Without waiting for a reply, she too dashed out the building.

By the time she caught up with her friend, the woman was standing in the middle of the road, enveloped by black smog, about to take off the one thing that was aiding her survival.

"No!" Kimihiro shouted. "Don't take it off!"

It was too late. The ring came slipped off her pinkie and the miasma grew so thick they could barely see the woman. Spotting an incoming truck, Kagome hurried over, turned the taller male around and pressed Kimihiro's head against her shoulder, just in time to prevent him from seeing the impact.

"Don't turn around" she whispered, hugging him closer and slowly leading him over to a nearby alley. "You don't need to see something like that."

"What about you?" he mumbled in her shoulder, choking on his tears. "You saw that, didn't you? I heard the tires screech and the screams."

Kagome paused, feeling the wall against her back. "Don't worry about me, Kimihiro-kun. Just as you're used to the ugliness of fallen spirits, I'm used to the horrors humanities had to offer." She released him from her embrace and smiled up at him. "Bloodshed and broken bodies are not strangers to me. As long as I could shield my friends from the same nightmares, I don't mind carrying the burden." Before he could reply to that, she said, "Go back to Yuuko-san. I'd accompany the woman to the hospital."

XxXxXxXxX

Kimihiro didn't know why he followed her orders, but he did — maybe it was shock or maybe it was the sadness and pain she saw in Kagome's eyes. Why would someone as sweet and kind as his friend be used to bloodshed? Just what terrible things had she witnessed?

Were those memories what Kagome wished to erase? He knew Yuuko-san was capable of messing with a person's memories. After all, a while back, she did erase Syaoran's presence in all of Sakura's memories as the price for his wish.

"Yuuko-san, why didn't you tell her that she needed to stop lying?" he asked.

The shopkeeper blew out a trail of tobacco smoke. "A lie is something a person tells and stops telling for their own sake. It's not something you can just tell a person to do. Besides, we can't say whether or not what happened this time was brought upon by herself."

"What do you mean?"

"Perhaps, this just became an excuse. Still, in the end, everything from here on is dependent upon her."

"Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

His eyes narrowed. "Did you know what was going to happen to her from the beginning? Or what will happen from now on? If that's the case, then Yuuko-san, do you know everything I've decided to do from now on?"

She leaned forward, resting her chin upon her hand. "Maybe, if that's what you believe, then that could be the case."

"That's…"

"Tadaima," Kagome said, entering the room. Kimihiro frowned when he spotted blood splattered across her blouse. He shouldn't have left her alone there, no matter what she had said.

"Okaeri nasai, Kagome-chan!" Yuuko waved, grinning. By the sliding door, Moro and Maru cheered, "Okaeri! Okaeri!"

Then the witch pointed at him with her pipe. "Watanuki, I'm hungry. Make dinner."

His jaw slackened. "What!" Didn't she say that he could have the rest of the day off a little while ago?

Moro and Maru danced around his legs. "Dinner! Dinner!"

"I want to eat taichazuke!" Yuuko ordered. "And hirezake! Toast the fin well."

He sighed, shoulders slumping. "Fine…" There was just no use arguing against that woman.

"I'll help you, Kimihiro-kun," Kagome smiled, following him towards the kitchen.

In the past two days, they had developed a system — he was in charge of the actual cooking but Kagome would help out with ingredients preparation and dish washing. It was a welcome change, considering Moro, Maru, and Mokona usually just stood around in the kitchen, generally giving him a headache.

The sound of a knife hitting a wooden chopping board soon filled the air with water boiling on the stove in the background.

"Ne… Kagome-chan…"

"Hm?"

He glanced at her and wetted his lips. "Um… Earlier, you said that you've seen a lot of bloodshed. Um… if you don't mind me asking… why did you…?"

A shadow crossed her eyes and her smile died. "I accidentally broke something really important and scattered it across the land. Human, spirits, and youkai were all interested in that object. A single shard could give you a power boost and keep you alive. You can get hacked to pieces but it would pull your body together and heal you. And that's just a single shard. Could you imagine what more of them could give you? What people would do to collect them?"

Kimihiro nodded. Power-hungry people wouldn't hesitate to kill in order to attain it. But still… he didn't recall anything like that happening. If such an object really existed, then wouldn't it be all over the news? Kagome didn't seem to be lying though.

"And that isn't all. The object, when whole, is rumoured to be able to grant your every wish. There was a mad scramble for the shards. Betrayal happened around every corner. Family and friends turned against each other. People became mad with bloodlust and greed. Countless broken bodies lain before us on bloodied fields." Kagome dropped to her knees, covering her face with both hands. "It's all my fault, all my fault," she sobbed. "I've caused all of it. If I didn't bring the jewel there… If I didn't shatter it… Then all those people wouldn't have…"

He held her shaking body in his arms, ignoring the wetness growing on his shirt, murmuring sweet nothings in her ears, hoping to calm her down.

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**What do you think of my**** first ****chapter? Please Read and Review. I would love to know how good and how bad my fics are. If you want to flame me, at least make it constructive criticism.**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize f****ro****m the **_**xxxHolic**_**, **_**Inuyasha**_**, and **_**Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles**_** aren't mines; they belong to their respective owners. Anything else belongs to me. **Please ask for permission and getting it before taking my things.

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_May fantasy guide your writing through it all - Dementra_


	2. Gateway of Spirits

_**Of Dreams and Wishes**_

**Hi! Thanks for wanting to read this fanfic. I hope you like this story.**

**I have never read**_** xxxHolic**_** manga — all my knowledge regarding that manga series stem from Wikipedia and some other sites. This fanfic would mainly follow **_**xxxHolic **_**anime with some addition from the manga. But I would be changing the order of the episodes around and wouldn't include all the cases.**

_**Of Dreams and Wishes**_** takes place after the **_**Inuyasha**_** series, with changes with its ending. Also, most of the characters from **_**Inuyasha**_** and **_**Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles **_**would not be mentioned much in this fanfic.**

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**Vocabulary**

Ayukata — summer kimono

Hitsuzen — inevitable, fated

Hyakumonogatari — 100 ghost stories

Jii-chan / Jii-san — grandfather

Shikai — literally "fourth world", crossroads

Sengoku Jidai — Feudal Era

Shikon no Tama — Jewel of Four Souls

Miko — priestess, shrine maiden

Miko ki – priestess energy

Youkai — demon

Hanyou — half demon

Inu — dog

Jaki — miasma, evil energy

Ofuda — protective wards on parchment / paper wards

Arigato — thank you

**Chapter 2 Gateway of Spirits**

A few days ago, Yuuko-san had taken them to meet two fortune tellers. The first one turned out to be a fake who irritated both Yuuko-san and Kagome-chan for tainting the reputation of true practitioners. The other one, however…

It still brought tears to his eyes at the relief from knowing that his parents were at peace in death, free from the pain felt in life. Murky spirits plagued him for as long as he could remember, and it had horrified him to think that his parents may have ended up as one of them. Thankfully, the genuine fortune teller led those worries to rest.

She also told him that there would be girl who would always stay by his side through thick and thin. That must be Himawari-chan! Just thinking about it sent his heart beating rapidly and his face to flush. The fortune teller also mentioned about a boy, despite constant bickering, and a girl who would be his beloved companions. He still wasn't sure about the male, but the latter was most likely Kagome-chan.

Speaking of Kagome-chan, she also received notice of her friends' contentment from the world beyond and their wish for her to live out her life to the fullness no matter what torment lied ahead. _(That message had Kimihiro watching his friend in worry. Did that mean she would get hurt in the future? He won't let that happen. She already suffered enough due to the mysterious object she had broken. He still didn't know the details, but he wasn't going to push her for the tale.)_ After that, the fortune teller also told her about a future lover and two precious friends.

Then, before he headed back to his empty apartment _(another reason why had chose to work for long hours at Yuuko-san's store)_, Kagome-chan gave him a bracelet, woven by the bark of Goshinboku, a sacred tree from her shrine.

"I infused my own powers and thoughts into the bracelet. There are also warding characters etched into the bark. It should keep most spirits and weaker youkai away from you, Kimihiro-kun, so please keep this with you at all times. I don't like how you live all alone, outside of Yuuko-san's barrier, while your aura attracts spirits like cats to catnip."

Both Yuuko-san and the old fortune teller had praised Kagome-chan for the craftsmanship. And true to her words, no spirits approached him ever since putting on that bracelet, even though they still hovered a few meters away, watching him.

This was why one of his hands was currently clasped over his bracelet as he made his way to Doumeki's _(that annoying bastard)_ temple for hyakumonogatari. In his opinion, ghost stories were nothing but trouble. But Yuuko-san insisted on helping him get closer to Himawari-chan though this activity.

Still! Did they _really_ have to do it at _Doumeki's_ home of all places? Why couldn't they stay at the shop, or better yet, visit Himawari-chan's house? And why did they all have to wear kimonos anyways?

He chose a simple blue one, one of his late father's. It was still a bit large for his irritating slender frame — he _still_ received comments about how girly he looked from strangers, especially when he had to carry Mokona, who most people thought as a stuffed animal, in town.

Yuuko-san, on the other hand, dressed down from her usual expensive-looking loose kimonos. This time she was simply clad in a black one, decorated with several large magenta butterflies and a yellow sash. She had also lent one to Kagome-chan — a light purple one peppered with dark blue butterflies. His friend was really pretty in it, but the most beautiful one is definitely—

Himawari-chan!

She looked so charming in that pale indigo ayukata with light blue flowers. They really bring out her green eyes.

"Hello! Ah, I guess it's 'good evening' by now, isn't it?"

Yep, the moon may be high up in the sky, but his heart was filled with sunshine. "Either works for me! Good evening, Himawari-chan!"

XxXxXxXxX

It was endearing how Kimihiro-kun fawned over his beloved Himawari-chan. If Hojo-kun always greeted her with such a bright smile and obvious affection _(rather then his polite smile, offers of dates, and health gifts, though the last one was jii-chan's fault)_, she may have come to like him better. From what she knew, Kimihirro-kun had never asked Himawari-chan for dates, only for company and her smiles, even when they weren't alone.

Hojo-kun never did that.

The few group outings they had never worked out, mainly because Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi always found some reason to leave the two of them alone. Then again, some of her problems with Hojo-kun _were_ her three friends. They were just too boy-obsessed and had tried pushing Hojo-kun and her together ever since he asked her out on a date soon after they started middle school. All that pushing made being with Hojo-kun really awkward and didn't give her a good feeling.

That, and the whole mess with Inuyasha. She did eventually get over her puppy love for him, increasing it to a more stable family love, but it was definitely too late to like Hojo-kun any more than a good friend.

"—and you are…?"

"Ah, that's Kagome-chan. She works with me at Yuuko-san's shop and she's one year younger than us."

She bowed in greeting. "Good evening, Kunogi-san." The bracelet she gave Kimihiro-kun seemed to ward away the other girl's tainted aura, but she should reinforce its powers once every few days, just in case. Kunogi-san's aura was as thick as Naraku's miasma, only without the toxic effects.

"I don't mind if your call me Himawari, Kagome-chan. Ah. Could I?"

Kagome nodded. "Yeah, Kagome-chan works fine with me." She turned to greet the other person. "Good evening. I'm Higurashi Kagome. Thank you for letting us use your temple, Doumeki-kun."

"Ah."

Kimihiro-kun's self-proclaimed rival was a man of a few words, huh? A very interesting contrast to Kimihiro-kun's energetic self. He was also his opposite in terms of aura. While Kimihiro-kun attracted all sorts of spirits, Doumeki-kun repelled them. This was probably why Yuuko-san wanted Kimihiro-kun to befriend him. After all, she couldn't always be there to purify the spirits away, especially when the cases involve more muscle-work than brain.

XxXxXxXxX

"This is such an ideal hyakumonogatari situation," Yuuko announced, closing the sliding door behind her.

"Is it alright? Telling ghost stories here?" Kimihiro whispered to Doumeki. "The room next door is in use today, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter."

Kagome agreed with that. She couldn't sense human life anywhere in this part of the temple, other than the ones in this room. So, if there was really someone next door, then it had to be a corpse. Jii-chan had told her about how larger temples tended to also serve as a place where bodies were kept before their burial. The Higurashi shrine, on the other hand, was too small to perform such function.

"This is for you, Watanuki," Yuuko said, handing him large bowl of water. "Could you out that over in the southwest corner? Next are the candles." She lit one of the candles, which glowed with a blue fire. "Everyone, light your own candles in this fire and carry them to the candle stands in the corners."

Kagome noticed that Yuuko was sitting right next of the sliding door leading to the room where the corpse was while the other four sat about a meter in front of the candles. In the middle of the group was an incense bowl. Knowing Yuuko-san, the shopkeeper definitely scheming something. Why else would she specifically gather someone who attracted spirits, someone to repelled spirits, someone who did both, and someone with an aura so tainted that it was already slowly eroding the barrier Yuuko-san erected with the candles _(the barrier was definitely not as powerful as Miroku-sama's)_? And telling ghost stories next to an occupied preparation room in a temple of all places.

"Now the preparations are complete," Yuuko said. "There are actually many more. Like a hundred candles, a razor, turning your lined kimono inside out… Btu today's simplified version would be just fine. The actors are all present."

Yep, everything was definitely planned.

"So, shall we begin our hyakumonogatari? Okay, starting with Himawari-chan…"

_There was once a family — a handsome husband, a caring wife, and a boy who loved his mother very much. But the husband tended to cheat on his wife, causing a huge fight between them. Whether it was the talk of consolation money or whatnot, the husband got so angry that he beat his wife to death._

_He was terrified. If it was discovered, he'd go to jail and his entire life would be ruined. He had to hide her body somehow. But, most of all, he had to deceive the one who was most likely to worry — the son who was really attached to his mother, but not particularly fond of his father._

_At first, the husband thought he'd say the wife had gone on a trip. That she had accidentally forgotten to tell the son about it. Day after day, he wondered when his son would ask about his mother. He spent the entire time fearing that moment. But the boy never asked. _

_A week later, when the husband could no longer bear it, he asked his son instead: "Aren't you lonely without your mother here?"_

_The boy looked at him blankly for a while before pointing at the space beside the husband. "But dad, mom has been right next to you the entire time."_

"The end," Himawari smiled, placing a stick of incense in the incense bowl.

"Himawari-chan, you're quite the storyteller," Yuuko praised.

"I'm glad. It wasn't boring?"

Staring pointedly at Kimihiro, Doumeki answered, "It seems like at least one of us was greatly affected."

Kimihiro shook a fist at the other male. "Hey! What do you mean by that?"

"Just that."

"I'm not scared!" he protested, flailing his arms.

Kagome rested a hand on his tense shoulders, sending a trickle of her aura around her friend to calm him down. She wasn't as sensitive to spirits as he was, since she tended to attract youkai more than spirits, so she wasn't really certain how telling ghost stories in such a setting would affect him. (Though, she doubted ghost stories would increase the spirits' allure for him.)

Yuuko clapped once. "All right, shall we continue?"

"I'll go next," Doumeki volunteered. "This is a story I heard from my jii-san."

_A student had moved into an old apartment by himself. One night, as he was dozing off to sleep, creaking sounds were heard around the six tatami mat room, circling his futon. Spooked out, he got some charms from an acquaintance the next day and placed them on the four corners of the room. _

_That night, there were no more creaking sounds. It seems that the thing couldn't come near due to the charms. However, just when he was feeling relieved, a voice said, "It's futile!"_

Himawari squealed. "That was scary!" Kimihiro, on the other hand, was covering his mouth with both hands, stifling his whimpers. "Wasn't that scary?" she asked.

"Y-Yeah… I mean…" He glared at the stoic male. "Hey! No teasing."

"Sure."

"Don't give me that as an answer!"

Kagome giggled. Doumeki-kun's story was _that_ scary. She had heard and seen worse in Sengoku Jidai. In fact, Kimihiro-kun was practically _living_ a ghost story. Why was he so worked up about a simple story? Or maybe it was because both Doumeki-kun and Himawari-chan was in the same room. Somehow, Kimihiro-kun had gotten in his head the idea that Doumeki-kun was his love rival, even though the other male didn't even hint at being interested in the girl.

"Doumeki-kun, your grandfather was the head priest here, yes?" Yuuko asked, in the same sultry voice which meant she was planning something.

"That's right. He has since died though."

"Did he often see ghosts?"

"Apparently. He also seems to have been good at palmistry."

Her lips tugged into a smirk. "Then, Doumeki-kun's blood as well…"

Kagome sighed. What was Yuuko-san really? An advocate of fate? Or hitsuzen as she often put it.

The sliding doors behind the shopkeeper rattled, sending Kimihrio down to his bottom with a gasp. Kagome narrowed her eyes as Doumeki elaborated on the guest in the neighbouring room. Several spirits had arrived and were circling the barrier, prodding for a weakness — which would definitely appear sooner or later due to Himawari's tainted aura.

That wasn't all. The combination of Kimihiro's aura, Himawari's miasma, the spirits, and tonight's natural influence were deteriorating the protective barrier casted on the bracelet. She would have to reinforce the charm soon.

Yuuko smirked. "I told you, didn't I? That all the actors were present."

Arms flailed. "You're including a dead body with the 'actors'? Geez!" Kimihiro shouted. He walked over to his crush. "Let's go, Himawari-chan! Telling ghost stories in a place like this is no joke."

Kagome crossed her arms, huffing. Thank you _soooo_ much for your concern, Kimihiro-kun. Just for _that_, she'd hold off strengthening his bracelet until the hyakumonogatari is officially over.

"You can't," Yuuko cut into Kimihiro's rant. "While in the middle of the hyakumonogatari, you shouldn't leave the barrier."

He blinked. "Barrier?"

"The barrier is created by the four candles. At this moment, this world is being protected by that power. But, if you leave, I can't guarantee your safety."

Kimihiro slumped down. "So, you mean…"

"You can't leave until the hyakumonogatari is over," she stated firmly. "Of course, since we're not doing it formally, four rounds with four stories each should be good enough. After all, the number four is related to the realm of the dead."

"Eh? Really?" Himawari asked, leaning forward in interest.

The shopkeeper nodded. "That's why there are no room numbered four in hospitals."

"In the past," Doumeki said. "People used to think that crossroads, the place where four roads intersect, is connected to shikai, or the world of the dead."

Kagome added. "They didn't think that. They _knew_ it was. That's why in ancient maps, you'd hardly ever see crossroads on them. And even if you do, there'd always be a guardian for protection placed there."

"Hey! Why are your four chatting amongst yourselves? I'm still here, you know," Kimihiro complained.

Completely ignoring him, Yuuko clapped her hands together and asked, "Who's up next?"

"I'll go," Kagome volunteered. "This is a true story which happened about five hundred and fifty years ago, during a time when youkai still freely roamed the lands, near the area where my home now sits upon."

_There was once a notorious bandit named Onigumo, who was so badly burnt that all his skin was lost and his couldn't move at all. Just when he resigned himself to death, a beautiful miko called Kikyou came to his aid, bandaging his melted flesh and tending to his needs. Onigumo fell in lust with Kikyou, even more so with the item she carried._

_You see, Kikyou wasn't just any normal miko. She was the guardian of the Shikon no Tama, a jewel which all demons and humans sought. It was rumoured that it would bestow great power onto its bearer and would grant any wish. However, it was also said that only pure wishes could rid of its evil._

Kagome ignored the questioning look Kimihiro shot at her. She knew he still remembered what she had admitted after the compulsive liar's car accident.

_Onigumo wanted that. Most of all, he wanted a corrupted Shikon no Tama. The jewel was kept in Kikyou's care so that she could purify it with her strong miko ki. Onigumo didn't want a pure jewel like that. And so, he plotted._

_Why not make the guardian of the Shikon no Tama the one to taint the jewel? He thought. Surely that would corrupt the jewel better than anything could._

_With his wicked thoughts, he sent out his tainted aura, attracting all the weak youkai in the area. Hoards of them arrived. At his request, the demons devoured him bit by bit, and together, they gave birth to a hanyou, Naraku. There was so much jaki from that incident that the cave was forever tainted by it, and no plants would ever grow in that area._

_From the shadows, Naraku observed Kikyou, waiting for the perfect chance to corrupt her heart, which in turn would corrupt her powers and the jewel she held. He soon noticed that Kikyou was often seen in the company of an inu hanyou called Inuyasha._

_They were in love. They were planning to wish upon the Shikon no Tama to turn Inuyasha into a pureblood human. They thought that if a hanyou, of all species, made that wish, it would count as a pure wish, and the jewel would disappear from existence. Kikyou and Inuyasha were planning to meet up by the river once Kikyou fetched the Shikon no Tama from its protective shrine._

_It was the chance Naraku was waiting for._

_Naraku is a very special hanyou. He was created from a human's wicked soul and the flesh of hundreds of demons. As such, he also had the ability to shape-shift. _

_He shape-shifted into Kikyou and shot arrows at Inuyasha in the woods, making Inuyasha think he had been betrayed. Then, knowing that Inuyasha would soon attempt to steal the jewel in revenge, Naraku hurried over to Kikyou, who was waiting by the river. This time, he shape-shifted into Inuyasha, and gave her a wound deep enough to kill her from blood lost in an hour and two. Naraku then took her Shikon no Tama, placed it back into the shrine, and waited._

_Sure enough, Inuyasha arrived in all his barshness, attacking the villagers and stealing the Shikon no Tama. However, just as Inuyasha was about to flee into the woods, the wounded Kikyou arrived and shot an arrow with a sealing spell at him, pinning him down to the Goshinboku into a timeless sleep until someone had the power to release him from the spell._

_Naraku eagerly waited in the shadows when Kikyou retrieved back the Shikon no Tama. His plan was to have Kikyou and Inuyasha betraying each other, planting seeds of hatred into their soul. And since Kikyou was only human, surely she would make a wish on the Shikon no Tama to live. Having its guardian make such a selfish wish would definitely blacken the jewel._

_But Kikyou went beyond his expectations._

_Instead, the miko ordered to have the Shikon no Tama burnt along with her body so she would be able to protect the jewel even in the afterlife. It worked. The jewel disappeared._

_But Naraku knew it would eventually come back. He could wait. He was very good at that. Meanwhile, he would grow stronger and stronger until he could taint the jewel more than anyone else could with a simple touch. And when that day finally comes, he would cause the destruction of this world._

Silence descended upon the group.

"Kagome-chan, is… Naraku still waiting for the jewel now?" Kimihiro asked after she placed her incense into the bowl.

Her lips tugged into a small smile. Just as expected of her friend. She knew he wouldn't have dismissed the story as mere fiction, not after her breakdown in his arms. And he knew better than most people how supernatural creatures and objects truly existed.

She shook her head in response to his question. "No. The Shikon no Tama reappeared fifty years after Kikyou's death due to Kikyou's reincarnation. It was rumoured that the reincarnation actually came from a far away land since she wore strange clothing and knew strange things. It's a really long story. To summarize it, after much bloodshed and heartbreak, the reincarnation and her small group of friends defeated Naraku and his minions. Then, the reincarnation made a pure wish on the Shikon no Tama which made the jewel disappear. No one else would ever suffer because of the jewel ever again. I could tell you the whole story later, Kimihiro-kun, when we both have more free time."

Kagome didn't really know why she offered that, but she had a strong feeling Kimihiro-kun would accept every single darkness of her past. _(Though she wasn't sure if she would actually admit _she_ was the reincarnation or if she'd give a false name instead.) _In the short time she had known him, she was certain he was good at that — accepting others, even if it meant risking himself. He couldn't see his own worth. He could only see the brilliance of others and he didn't want anything to darkness that.

Just like herself.

She had sacrificed her flesh and blood, her tears, her heart, her soul, her time, and her life in the modern era for the Shikon no Tama and her friends. Naturally, she had gradually become more confident in herself and saw how her sacrifices were hurting her precious people. But it was already too late. And she was still paying for it.

Working in a wish-granting shop would only give Kimihiro-kun more opportunities to make sacrifices for others. She didn't want him to end up like her. She didn't want him to make a wish that would forever scar him.

"Okay, it's your turn now, Watanuki," Yuuko ordered.

He hesitated for a moment before choosing a story.

_This happened when I was in elementary school. I was sleeping in the sick bay since I had a horrible headache. A boy called out from the window and then we chatted for a bit. I thought he might be one of the students there. Later, he said goodbye and left. Some time later, I realized that the infirmary was actually on the third floor, and that it was impossible for any human to stand where he stood since there were no balconies._

"Er… That's all…"

Himawari laughed. "Is that one of Watakuni-kun's school's Seven Mysteries?" Kimihiro slumped down, realizing his crush didn't believe his story at all.

Kagome narrowed her eyes. It could become really dangerous if he couldn't distinguish spirits from humans. It was a wonder that Kimihiro hadn't already been lured over to the world of the dead by a spirit.

"I wonder what that child was," Himawari said, tapping her chin with a finger.

"It's a spirit," Doumeki replied in his usual monotonous voice.

Kimihiro turned to him, stunned. "You can see spirits as well?"

"Nope. Not at all."

Then Kimihiro mumbled something to himself dejectedly.

Yuuko's lips curled. "Even without being able to see them, it's still possible. Any~how, this concludes the first round. I'll start the next. You see…" The smoke from the incense swayed and Kagome was suddenly aware of how thin the barrier currently was. "What's that reflecting on the screen behind me?"

There was a shifting shadow displaying on the sliding door. Shortly afterwards, a thump was heard on the ceiling, followed by a series of four consecutive quieter thumps, as if it was crawling on all fours above them.

Kimihiro covered his eyes, screeching, "No!"

The ground rattled, but the water in the bowl set aside earlier didn't even have a single ripple. Another shake sent Himawari stumbling into Doumeki's arms, which instantly angered Kimihiro. Kagome didn't even notice it. She was far too busy tracking the spirits surrounding them. They seemed to have spilt into two groups — one behind Kimihiro and the other one near her.

Kagome frowned, twirling her hairsticks in her fingers. She won't be able to take care of both groups at the same time since they were at opposite sides. The candle stand by Himawari's corner fell, blowing out all the flames and destroying the barrier.

Numerous hands penetrated both walls, reaching for the people whose aura attracted them. The spirits had been affected her miko ki, so they were more sluggish, but the power in Kimihiro's bracelet had dwindled too much, and they easily caught him by his kimono. Fortunately, the charm still kept them from coming into direct contact with him. They won't be able to take him away if he could slip out of his clothes.

Kagome was about to throw her miko ki-charged hairsticks at them when Yuuko spoke up, "Kagome-chan, take care of the ones behind you. Doumeki-kun, take that bow from the alcove. Fire toward the screen behind Watanuki."

"I don't have an arrow," he replied.

She smirked. "It'd be fine, as long as it's you."

When Doumeki pulled back the bow, a yellow energy arrow appeared, one which was made from his spirit repelling energy. Kagome sighed in relief. Good. Kimihiro-kun would be saved. Still keeping an eye on her friend, she stabbed the wall behind her with both hairsticks at the same time Doumeki fired. Screeches were heard from behind both walls. The spirits behind her burst into dust while the ones Doumeki defeated turned into grey smog which trickled into the room. Both were instantly sucked into the vacuum which was Mokona's mouth.

"Thank you for the food," Mokona said, wearing a pleased smile.

Yuuko smiled. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

Kagome's eyebrow twitched. Was his stomach a portal to meidou or something? It would've been nice if they have Mokona when dealing with Naraku. He could've sucked away all of the miasm for them.

XxXxXxXxX

And Mokona was _still_ eating watermelons afterwards.

Kimihiro glanced at the girl he was sitting to his right. _(He absolutely refused to think of the male on his _other_ side.) _"Umm… Himawari-chan, aren't you afraid of this guy? I mean, he even ate something we don't even know."

"Don't call me 'this guy', Watanuki written as April first!" Mokona complained.

Himawari gushed. "But wasn't it amazing?"

"Mokano amazing!" the little puff ball bragged, making Kagome giggle.

Kimihiro sighed. Calling that amazing…

"Speaking about amazing acts," Himawari continued, looking at the person Kimihiro despereately wanted to ignore. "Doumeki-kun, you didn't have an arrow for that bow before, right? And Kagome-chan, you did something and there was this pink light. What was that?"

It was Yuuko who answered. "It was energy. Doumeki-kun has a power to repel evil spirits and youkai. More importantly, he has the ability to exorcise them. Kagome-chan, however, is a miko. She could purify spirits and youkai among other things. Their ability is actually quite similar and it all stemmed from their ancestor. Just like how you've inherited _your _abilities from your family, Watanuki."

"It doesn't make me happy to be similar to him," Kimihiro growled.

Kagome reached over from Doumeki's left. "Kimihiro-kun, could you hand me the bracelet I gave you for a sec? It has used quite up a lot of energy protecting you from spirits these past few days. I need to recharge it."

"Oh… okay." He slipped it off and handed it over.

Himawari looked at the wooden accessory in interest. "Eh… You can make protective charms like this, Kagome-chan."

The miko's hands and the bracelet glowed pink with energy. "One of my friends, Miroku-sama, is a monk. He's really talented at making ofuda and energy barriers. Kaede-sama, an old village miko we know, isn't as powerful, but she's good enough to keep her village safe from lesser youkai and spirits for over fifty years. Both of them taught me some warding techniques in our spare time, but my talents lie in offense rather than defence. Kikyou is different. She can erect one of the strongest types of barriers we know. She could easily break them too. And she's also powerful enough to take down almost every youkai in her path."

Kimihiro frowned when he noticed a faint weight settling on her shoulders and was about to intervene _(how, he didn't knoow)_, when she laughed it off. "Anyways, my warding abilities aren't that good. That's why I had to use the bark from a sacred tree at my shrine for this bracelet. It helps channel and store my miko ki, but I'd still need to recharge it now and then, especially since spirits really love to follow Kimihiro-kun." The light died down and Kagome handed the bracelet back to him. "Here you go, Kimihiro-kun."

He smiled back at her, holding it over his heart before slipping it back onto his wrist. "Arigato, Kagome-chan." He didn't like seeing her being weighed down by an almost invisible entity. It reminded him of the weight the lying woman carried around with her, right before the car accident.

And Kikyou… Wasn't that the miko she had mentioned in her story earlier?

Somehow, he had the feeling that Kagome-chan hadn't been lying, that the story actually happened in the past. But then… how… Kagome-chan had definitely be involved with the Shikon no Tama, but she said that everything had been resolved around five hundred years ago. Humans can't live that long. Was it possible that Kagome-chan wasn't human?

"Does anyone want something to drink?" Doumeki asked, breaking Kimihiro out of his thoughts.

"Sake!" Yuuko and Mokona cheered. "Sake!"

"I'll have some tea please, Doumeki-kun," Himawari said.

Kagome got up and brushed her yukata. "I'll help."

XxXxXxXxX

As he led her to the kitchen in the main building, Kagome said, "Doumeki-kun, since Yuuko-san has already brought you into this, there's a very good chance that she'd continue dragged you deeper and deeper into our world."

He glanced at her, his expression barely changing. "Your world?"

She nodded solemnly. "Yes. Our world. The world of spirits, youkai, and magic. Both Kimihiro-kun and I were born with a very affinity for the supernatural. I was already in the deep before meeting Yuuko-san. I chose to work at her shop because I find the normal world boring." She let out a laugh. "From what I've heard, Yuuko-san didn't give Kimihiro-kun much of a choice before dragging him down for the ride. But she probably saved his life. Sooner or later, a powerful spirit or youkai would've been attracted to Kimihiro-kun's latent powers and would've killed him for it. Every time Kimihiro-kun enters her shop, his aura would be dampened by Yuuko-san's barrier, so that he is less noticeable to spirits."

Pouring water in the kettle, she continued on, "But you… Doumeki-kun, you don't have to get involved with us. Your aura naturally repels evil from you. I'm kinda jealous really. I have a very close relationship with something which attracts many youkai, so I was constantly chased by them. Eventually, I learned how to deal with them through countless battles. Anyways, if you continue to stay with us, you'd definitely face dangerous situations which could end with your death. If you don't want that, you should back out while you still can. I could tell Yuuko-san to leave you out of this. She'd listen to me as long as I pay for that wish."

Doumeki-kun was lucky. She had never gotten the chance to back out. She hadn't been smart enough to figure out she could travel between both eras through the well. If she had, she could've left the Shikon behind. But she hadn't, and the moment she had shattered the jewel, it was much too late to back out. Her guilty conscience wouldn't let her. _Inuyasha_ wouldn't let her, since she was the only one who could sense the jewel shards back then. _(And when Inuyasha finally gave her a choice to back out, she had actually been too emotionally involved with her friends and the quest to leave.)_

The kettle whistled, and they quickly prepared the tea. After a bout of silence, as they were headed back to the other, Doumeki asked, "Shouldn't you also tell Kunogi-san this?"

"She'd be fine. She won't be affected too much even with Yuuko-san's meddling. Himawari-chan has a very tainted aura that naturally latches onto everything and everyone she comes into contact with. I still don't really know what it does exactly, but it can't be anything good. No spirit or youkai would want to go near her. My miko ki purifies it from me immediately and your energy repels it, so we're both safe from her. Kimihiro-kun, though…"

She heaved a sigh. "He attracts all sorts of trouble and can't seem to defend himself from it. Himawari-chan is a very nice girl. As long as one of us is near her when she's with Kimihiro-kun, everything should be alright. I think that Yuuko-san wants you around because your aura could keep Kimihiro-kun safe. But, being a miko, I can be Kimihiro-kun's protector as well. Think about it. If you want to back out, just tell me."

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

**What do you think of my**** second ****chapter? Please Read and Review. I would love to know how good and how bad my fics are. If you want to flame me, at least make it constructive criticism.**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize f****ro****m the **_**xxxHolic**_**, **_**Inuyasha**_**, and **_**Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles**_** aren't mines; they belong to their respective owners. Anything else belongs to me. **Please ask for permission and getting it before taking my things.

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_May fantasy guide your writing through it all - Dementra_


	3. Angel of Death

_**Of Dreams and Wishes**_

**Wow. I'm on a roll. Three chapters in two days. Hopefully, this plot bunny would continue on strongly.**

**Thanks for wanting to read this fanfic. I hope you like this story.**

**I have yet to read****_ xxxHolic_**** manga — all my current knowledge regarding that manga series stem mainly from Wikipedia and some other sites. But I'd read the manga later for references for certain parts. This fanfic would mainly follow ****_xxxHolic _****anime with some addition from the manga. But I would be changing the order of the episodes around and wouldn't include all the cases.**

**_Of Dreams and Wishes_**** takes place after the ****_Inuyasha_**** series, with changes with its ending and certain details. Also, most of the characters from ****_Inuyasha_**** and ****_Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles _****would not be mentioned extensively in this fanfic.**

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

**Vocabulary**

Hitsuzen — inevitable, fated

Shikon no Tama — Jewel of Four Souls

Ame-warashi — rain sprite

Kami — god

Miko — priestess, shrine maiden

Youkai — demon

Jaki — miasma, evil energy

Youki — demon energy

Reiki — spiritual energy

Miko ki – priestess energy

Kokkuri-san — one of the many names for a popular Japanese divination method akin to ouija boards; supposedly, the "players" would call down a spirit or god (depending on what they believed) to answer their questions

Hyakumonogatari — 100 ghost stories

Jii-chan / Jii-san — grandfather

Onee-chan — big sister, or a girl who is older

Inu no Taishou – Dog General

**Chapter 3 Angel of Death**

It was raining again.

It had been raining for the past few days. Outside this time, not inside. But there was something different about this downpour. Not only had there been no warning signs, but Kagome had sensed faint traces of energy in the rain. It felt sad… desperate… It wasn't dangerous, so she didn't bother mentioning it to anyone.

She paused in her steps when she felt two people entering the barrier. Ever since she started living here at Yuuko-san's shop, she had been attuning herself to the energy signatures of her friends, so she could tell Kimihiro-kun had brought someone here, a guest who wasn't human.

Kagome placed the duster down and hurried out of the storeroom. Kimihiro-kun had a history of being unable to differentiate between humans and human-looking creatures. So far, he had been lucky to not have met anyone too dangerous, but that luck won't always hold, especially since Yuuko-san was slowly pulling him deeper into their world.

Moro-chan and Maru-chan's cheerful voice reached her ears: "Mistress has a guest! Mistress has a guest!"

She slowed down and sighed in relief. Good. Kimihiro-kun wasn't in the company of a malevolent creature. The girls wouldn't have welcomed the guest in otherwise.

Kagome then made her way towards one of the meeting rooms, and found the guest seated on a reed mat. Her pale skin stood out in contrast to the black Lolita-style dress and her dark red hair, which was tied up into two pigtails by black ribbons. If she was human, Kagome would've commented on how she must've hardly ever gotten out in the sun. But it was obvious to her senses that this girl, purer than any youkai or ghost, was the one affecting the rain.

"Rain, rain, falling, falling…" Moro and Maru sang, dancing around their new customer, holding large lotus leafs about her head. "Rain even more…"

Mokona's voice joined the song. "If you don't have an umbrella, raise a leaf instead…"

Peeking from behind sliding doors were Yuuko and Kimihiro. "You looked like Nobita-kun crying all the way here," the shopkeeper teased.

"I wasn't crying!" he protested, waving a fist. "So, what is she really?"

"She's an ame-warashi. A creature that governs the rain."

Kimihiro blinked. "You mean, a youkai?"

"Even higher up," Kagome replied, walking up to them. "Ancient youkai are creatures born from the earth itself while it's said that sprites are created by kami."

"Hey! Why must I sit on this reed mat?" Ame-warashi complained when she noticed Moro laying down a red cushion before her.

Yuuko entered the room and sat down on the cushion. "To counter the moisture," she replied. "So… What can my Watanuki do for you?"

Kimihiro frowned, "What does she mean by 'my'? And why zit always me? Kagome-chan works here as well."

Kagome giggled. "It just means that Yuuko-san's never letting you out of her clutches, Kimihiro-kun." She still couldn't understand what obsession their employer had for him though. Kimihiro-kun wasn't the only spirit-sensitive person out there. Yuuko-san could've easily granted his wish for a different price. It was as if she was preparing him for something very important.

Being in such close proximity with Yuuko-san for so long, she could tell that maintaining this dimension and granted wishes was taking a toll on her spirit and body. Not to mention, she seemed emotionally compromised, which would also affect her powers (as Kagome had learnt firsthand). She had lost someone very very dear to her, and she was suffering for it.

"There's something I'd like him to do," Ame-warashi replied.

"And that's something that can't be done without my Watanuki?" Yuuko asked, her voice as smooth as silk.

Before Ame-warashi could reply, Kagome strolled into the room, "Would I be able to help you in Kimihiro-kun's place? Kimihiro-kun has a prior arrangement with a friend that must be done tonight."

Earlier at school, Himawari had approached Kimihiro regarding a problem at her friend's school. Kokkuri-san, or Angel-san as those students called it, had become very popular at that school, and perhaps, due to that, strange things have been happening there. Before her adventures in Sengoku Jidai, Kagome had played Kokkuri-san once in a while with her friends, but she now completely steered away from any games like that. Kokkuri-san could really call out some nasty spirits and it took power to send it back.

Himawari was hoping that Yuuko would be able to help, but later, when Kimihiro told her of the situation, the shopkeeper had pushed the responsibility over to them. Kimihiro had complained, right up until Yuuko told them, if _she_ had been the one to grant Himawari's wish, Himawari would have to compensate for it.

"Doumeki-kun could take my place as Kimihiro-kun's partner," she continued on. "He could repel spirits away better than I could." This case shouldn't be that life-threatening, but it should be dangerous enough for Doumeki to have a taste of what it was like to be in their world. Hopefully, he would have an answer to her earlier question before the night was over.

Kimihiro stormed into the room. "What! Why do I have to go with Doumeki!"

Kagome waved him off. "Like I said, Doumeki-kun could help you with the worse of whatever's in the school. I'll also recharge your bracelet before you leave."

Ame-warashi stared at her critically. "Hm… You have holy powers."

"Yes, I'm a miko."

"You can probably do a better job than that ungrateful child."

Arms flailed around. "Hey! What do you mean by that! Hey! Aren't you listening to me?"

The girls ignored his rants. "Fine," Yuuko said. "But I'll need payment."

"How much?"

"Naturally, something equivalent."

Her eyebrows furrowed for a moment before relaxing again. "That's fine. I'm an ame-warashi. If I find out you've shafted me, you'll become a laughingstock in this world."

XxXxXxXxX

A few hours ago, Higurashi-san had called and asked him to help Watanuki deal with a spirit at Kunogi-san's friend's school. He had, of course, agreed to help, especially after Higurashi-san had told him to learn from this experience and see if he wanted to back out from their world or not.

Shizuka had been thinking about her question ever since the night they did hyakumonogatari at his family temple. He knew that Higurashi-san was one year younger than him, but at that time, she had seemed centuries older — tired of life, but still living it because she was alive.

It reminded him of his late grandfather, Doumeki Haruka. Jii-san had always been able to see things he couldn't and had told him many stories of those creatures. The stories he told were often amusing — like the ones about the tiny tree spirits or the Dream Buyer. Others were warnings — "Remember this story, Shizuka. Don't you ever make the same mistake he did."

But sometimes, he would see his jii-san, sitting on the porch, smoking a cigarette, sighing heavily; and his eyes were always gazed off in the distance. Shizuka had never brought himself to disturb him during those times and he also had never mentioned it.

But seeing Higurashi-san's unseeing eyes when she told Naraku's tale as if she had been there in person and when she warned him of the dangers in their world — her world, Watanuki's world, jii-san's world — made him wished he had asked his jii-san about it, if only to unload some of his mental and emotional burdens.

Hearing footsteps, Shizuka pushed himself off the wall and greeted their dejected owner. "You're late." Even under the dim streetlights and the shadow casted by his umbrella, he could see the pink flush splashed across Watanuki's cheeks. Shizuka paused, staring at the ridiculous white-ear-lookalike his schoolmate was wearing. Holding back a smirk, he turned around, "Shall we go?"

"At least make fun of me a little!" Watanuki shouted, pointing at the white ears. "Isn't it ridiculous, this obivious thing over my ears?"

Shizuka glanced at him. "If that's what you like, then there's nothing to say, is there?"

His face flushed from embarrassment and anger. "Idiot! How could I possibly like this!"

"Well, it is kinda funny."

Watanuki waved a finger at him. "There's no need for you to say that!"

Shizuka raised an eyebrow. And who was it that told him to make fun of the white ears earlier?

After a short message from Yuuko-san through the headphones Watanuki was wearing, they climbed over the school gates. Watanuki stopped in his tracks and gasped. "There's a dark thing over the building… A spirit? It's dark and moving around and around. Like it's wrapping around the school building." A reply from the Yuuko-san and he sighed, "I was afraid of that…"

He glanced at the school. It looked perfectly fine to him.

"I can't help it if I'm the only one that can see it!" his schoolmate yelled defensively after a short bout of silence. Giving his attention back to the thing he saw, "I'm getting an incredible feeling. To call it strong or big… Anyhow, I just can't believe it!"

"Could it be that the strange things at this school are happening because of that thing?"

"Probably."

XxXxXxXxX

She was definitely correct about Himawari-chan when she noticed Ame-warashi hiding behind a streetlight as she left her friend's house.

"I'm surprised you can get along with that girl, even if you can purify her aura!" the rain sprite scowled. "How can you even stand to stay near such a taint?"

Kagome smiled. "Himawari-chan is a nice girl. She can't help it if she was born with such an aura. Right, Mokona?" Yuuko had ordered her to bring him along, so he probably would play an important role for this case.

The puff ball in her arms bounced. "Yep! Yep!"

Ame-warashi sighed. "Whatever." Then she pointed at Kagome, Mokona, and the two white ribbons they had gotten from Himawari (which were already purified from her friend's tainted aura). "I have this and this and that and that in hand. So please… I want you to help me." She stared down at her feet. "I wanted to do something, but I couldn't. I couldn't even come close. Help me," she pleaded, gazing into her eyes.

Kagome nodded. That explained the desperation she had felt in the rain. Following Ame-warashi's instructions, they soon arrived at a park, with a huge bush of bluish-purple hydrangea. No. At a closer look, Kagome noticed that several balls of hydrangea were bright red near the bottom and they all gave off a faint scent of blood. She would've never caught it if she hadn't gotten used to the smell sticking onto her clothes. The scent never had completely washed away, no matter what she did.

Her eyes narrowed. Jaki was emitting from within the bush. Youkai? No, it wasn't laced with youki. A spirit was stuck in there. And the flowers were… trying to protect it? Several red hydrangea balls reached out and wrapped around her foot. Jaki shot out from the bush and enveloped her. She was about to purify it, but a voice begged for help, and so she let it drag her down into the darkness.

XxXxXxXxX

Shizuka followed Watanuki around the school building, searching for a way in. Suddenly, his schoolmate gasped, staring at something only he could see, and they followed it to an unlocked classroom window. They climbed in and Watanuki pitched his nose, grimacing.

"It's strange," he said, replying to Yuuko over his headphones. "There are tons of spirits. And a strange smell." Shizuka sniffed at the air. He couldn't smell anything wrong and told the other male such when Yuuko-san asked.

As they ascended the stairs, Shizuka noticed that Watanuki was breathing heavily, as if having participated in a marathon, and he was also staggering in his steps, supporting himself with the railings. Had jii-san also experienced something like this before?

"It seems to get worse as we go up." A pause. "Okay…"

"Are you alright?" Shizuka asked. His friend's face was getting paler by the minute. Shizuka also noticed that the bracelet Higurashi-san had given him was glowing with a pale pink light.

"Worry about yourself," Watanuki replied, one of his hands still pinching his nose. "You seem chipper in such a smelly place."

"Well, I can't feel anything." While he would like to be able to see what was affecting the other male, he was glad that he wasn't bombarded with whatever putrid scent Watanuki was currently smelling. Shizuka could already imagine that it was something akin to rotting bodies in the summer heat. He tended to stay away from _that_ part of the temple then.

Watanuki mumbled to himself and his employer as he slowly made his way up with Shikuza staying a few steps behind, ready to catch his friend if he flattered from whatever was affecting him. And soon they reached the roof.

XxXxXxXxX

It was pitch black, and yet, she could still clearly see herself. The strong scent of death — rotting flesh mixed with blood — hung heavily in the air. _Where am I?_ She had been to the realm of the dead before (admittedly, it was only a part of that realm where the grave of Inu no Taisho, Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's father, was), but it was nothing like this.

Faint sounds of sobbing reached her and she headed towards it. Kagome soon found a little girl crying in her knees. It was a spirit, her senses revealed.

"What's wrong?" Kagome asked, kneeling down beside her.

"I can't go," the girl whimpered. "But I must hurry." Leaping up to her feet, she wrapped her arms around the miko and nuzzled into her chest. "There's a place I must get to…" She looked up with glistening eyes, "But I don't want to go alone." Tears trailed down her cheeks. "Am I a coward?"

Kagome wiped the girl's face and smiled. "Of course, you're not. It's natural to be scared in such a dark place." This must be some kind of limbo, not the realm of the dead. She must've gotten lost on the way there.

"Onee-chan, if you come with me, I could probably make it." Her lips wobbled with suppressed sobs. "Please. Come with me!" She tugged at Kagome's arm. "Please."

Her lips tugged into a small smile. "Uh. Alight." She could stay with the girl for a little while longer, but there was no way she would follow her till the end. Hopefully, there would be someway they could both leave here. She had a really bad feeling about this place, and it wasn't just the terrible smell.

XxXxXxXxX

Watanuki twisted the doorknob of the roof door and opened a crack, but the door was suddenly flung wide opened, starling Shizuka. It seemed to be the doing of more than just the wind as he noticed his friend struggling to go outside. However, once he did make it, Watanuki start dancing _really_ oddly, with his limbs jerking all over the place, and eventually leading him to face-plant onto the ground.

Shizuka blinked. "Did she tell you to make a fool of yourself?" It wouldn't be surprising if she had. Yuuko-san seemed to like teasing her male employee.

"She didn't!" he protested, sitting up and shaking a fist. Watanuki froze and turned around. "Is someone crying?" He got up and Shizuka followed him to the other side of the roof, not bothering to tell his friend he didn't hear anyone crying.

When they arrived, Watanuki started a one-sided conversation and was grasping in the air at something only he could see. Then, for some reason, he ran towards the edge of the roof, his back against the railing and both arms wide opened.

"Help me out here, Doumeki!" he yelled, frustrated.

With his hands resting on his hips, Shizuka asked, "What have you been doing by yourself?"

Watanuki's eyes widened, staring at the space in front of him. Then, he suddenly tipped over backwards, over the railing. Shizuka ran forward and caught one of his hands just in time.

"Hey, Watanuki!" he called out to the dangling boy, bracing himself against the railing. "Open your eyes, Watanuki!"

When his friend finally realized his situation, he flailed around, almost making Shizuka lose his grip. "Hurry and climb up."

"Y-You don't have to tell me!"

Shizuka reached out his other arm, but Watanuki grimaced, staring at the space above his head. He glanced back, only to meet darkened rainclouds. "Is there something behind me?"

"There is!" Watanuki replied, his voice laced with panic. "Whatever gods that use Kokkuri-san, Angel-san, or whatever, seemed to have all gathered."

Shizuka felt something tighten painfully around his right arm, the same one that kept Watanuki was falling to his death. It really hurt, and blood seeped out from beneath his sleeve. The thing must really want his friend's death. Well, too bad. He wasn't going to let go. No matter what.

"Your hand!"

Keeping his voice steady, Shizuka replied, "Don't struggle. And be quiet."

Watanuki shook a fist at him. "What was that, you jerk!" Then he gasped, "Blood!" As if he didn't notice it earlier. "Too late!" he yelled.

Hm… he was probably talking to his employer.

"What's that?" Watanuki asked. There was a long pause as Yuuko-san explained something to him.

Shizuka barely held back his sigh. Couldn't they talk _later_, when Watanuki wasn't dangling at the side of the school building? His arm was still held in the clutch of the invisible thing, and once every few seconds, he could feel a weight on his shoulders and back. It also didn't help that the rain water and his blood were making their hands slippery.

Watanuki gasped and glanced below him. "The big black thing is underneath me now" His body flailed, panicking at something only he could see. "I can't hear you!" he shouted into the headphones. He looked upwards. "Look out!" he warned, just a split second before Shizuka felt the earlier weight vanishing.

Taking that chance, Shizuka hurriedly pulled the other male up, not knowing when the thing would return. Watanuki's headphones, loosened from the motion, clattered onto the roof a few meters away.

"Snake!" he screeched, twisting his arms above his head defensively.

Shizuka looked in the direction Watanuki was gawking at. "Where?"

"Oh yeah, you can't see it…"

He might not be able to see it, but it definitely felt like something was staring at them.

XxXxXxXxX

The girl, holding on her hand, led her deeper into the darkness. "I'm so glad you showed up. I was lonely, calling out for so long for someone to come. I had to stop calling out. They said it as useless… But I was so lonely!"

"Who said it was useless?"

"They've always been here," she explained. "I came later, and I think I'm in the way. But I didn't come here on my own."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "Who's always been here?"

"You've met them too."

Kagome frowned. _I have?_ She clasped a hand on her nose. The smell was getting stronger. It was now akin to the putrid scent of sewage during the moist but hot summer days. She paused in her steps.

"That way!" the girl cried out happily.

She pulled her back. "It's dangerous. We shouldn't go there." Miasma was very thick in that direction. It didn't lead to the realm of the dead. A cluster of malicious spirits was gathered there. "We should go back."

The girls gaped at her, betrayed. Then she clutched at her arm. "Please, come with me. I don't want to go alone! You say it's bad and I'm scared!"

Kagome bent down and pulled the girl into her arms. "That's not a place you'd want to go to." The poor girl. She got really got lost on her way to the afterlife.

"I have to go that way!" she yelled, tears filling her eyes again.

"No!" an ever-changing voice from above stated firmly. "You can't take her with you." A sweet scent slowly replaced the horrible odour.

The girl shook her head, staring at the endless space above. "No way! Onee-chan's coming with me!"

"Please, take that girl with you."

Kagome nodded, standing up and scooping up the young spirit, so she couldn't run away. It had taken a few minutes, but she finally remembered where she had smelt it before — it was the scent of hydrangea. The flowers had mostly likely been the ones to prevent the girl from falling into darkness.

"I'll take you to a brighter place," Kagome whispered, walking away from the miasma and bathing them with her miko ki. A white road appeared before them — Himawari-chan's ribbon, their way back. "A place where the sun never sets. A place where wisps of reiki smoke covers the air. A place where skeleton birds take flight. A place where a powerful and kind Inu no Taishou stands guards. It's very beautiful. You'd like it there. I haven't been to other parts of that realm, but I'm sure they'd be just as bright and peaceful."

XxXxXxXxX

_Was this what the frog felt like when it was stared down at by a snake?_

Shizuka, clutching his unmoving right arm, followed Watanuki's lead as they ran across the roof, being chased after by something only the other boy could see. Eventually, they were literally cornered by that thing. Although, to Shizuka, there was a large space before them, he didn't dare move forward.

"I can't see it, but I have this feeling of being coerced," he said.

Watanuki glared at him. "Don't be so composed, you idiot!" Then he screeched. "We're gonna get eaten!"

Suddenly, Yuuko's voice was heard from the headphones. "It's something that has lived on this earth since ancient times. Manage your hatred. Brave in body, I shall offer up myself."

Before his eyes, the headphones disappeared and all tension left Watanuki's body. Taking that as his cue the danger was gone, he, too, relaxed. But to be sure…

"Are we saved?"

Watanuki nodded, shoulders slumped in relief. "Yeah, the snake went back to whenever it came from. I wonder if he was just hungry…" Then, noticing Shizuka's gaze, he straightened his back. "If you don't want to believe, then don't."

"No one said anything about not believing." Normal people would've thought his friend should be placed in a padded room; but he knew better, _they_ knew better. "Reality isn't limited to the things one has seen. I may not be able to see, but you say there are spirits who follow you around. You say there are, so there are." Besides, it wasn't as if his spontaneous injury, and what happened when they did hyakumonotagari, could be explained by something other than the supernatural.

"Doumeki…"

He couldn't resist taking a job at the other teen. "But it's pitiful when you cry out like a girl when seeing them."

"What was that!"

"It sure is a shame we've lost those ears."

"Why's that?"

"Because they made you look funny."

"I'll beat you up!"

XxXxXxXxX

With the help of the hydrangea bush (and with Mokona cheering her own), Kagome dug out the skeleton of the little girl she had met in the limbo from beneath the plant. She had promised to not leave her alone, and she would keep it.

Then, wrapping the skeleton in her coat, Kagome carried the precious bundle over to the police station, where she was quickly led aside to play a game of twenty questions. She told them how a ring she had accidentally dropped had rolled underneath the hydrangea bush. Then, while she was searching for the ring, she discovered something white, and as she dug deeper, she found the skeleton of a human hand. After that, she hurriedly uncovered the entire skeleton and brought it over to the police station.

The police easily bought her story, especially since she actually had a ring and the wet clothes clinging to her frame were splattered with mud. She was detained there for about fifteen as the police searched through their database for the identity of the little girl. Thankfully, the torn clothes covering the skeleton were found to be consistent with those of a girl who went missing since the year before, and her parents were quickly contacted.

After being thanked by the sobbing parents over the phone and saying goodbye to the little girl, Kagome made her way back to the shop, patting a subdued Mokona's head. She was really glad that she had taken this case instead of Kimihiro-kun. Her friend wouldn't have known the girl was a spirit, at least not at the beginning; and there was a chance that Kimihiro-kun, even with the protection of his bracelet, would've never returned from that realm, swallowed up by its miasma.

Rain abruptly stopped pouring on her head and she looked up, seeing a red umbrella covering her. She smiled at its owner. "Doumeki-kun! Did you and Kimihiro-kun finish dealing with the spirit at that school?"

"Ah. How about you?"

She nodded. "Same here. I found the skeleton of a little girl underneath a hydrangea bush. Her spirit had gotten lost in the limbo between life and death, so I helped bring her back. I took her body to the police and her parents were contacted. Hopefully, she'd be able to complete her journey without getting lost this time."

Kagome glanced over at him, noticing for the first time, his right arm was held in a sling. She gasped. "What happened?"

Doumeki shrugged. "Watanuki fell off the roof and something wanted me to let go of him. I didn't, so this happened."

Her hands glowed pink with miko ki, hovering over his injured arm. "Here, let me heal your wound." She frowned when she noticed that her friend had more than just scrapes and bruises. It had actually fractured his bones.

"That's a useful ability." His face was as blank as ever when he said that, though his eyes were trailed on her hands.

She smiled. "Thank you." No one had formally taught her about how to heal. In fact, according to Miroku-sama, while miko were capable of purifying jaki from people (hence, enabling their illness to recover or their wounds to heal faster as a side effect), no miko had been recorded to be able to actually heal injuries. But she had been. It was an ability she had developed out of necessity when their enemies were strong than the last. She had wanted to do something to help her friends who constantly got injured because she wasn't as useful on the battlefield.

"Thank you for saving, Kimihiro-kun." Kagome let out a soft laughter. "I'm pretty sure he hasn't thanked you yet."

"You're welcome. And no, he hasn't."

She giggled. "Kimihiro-kun has pride issues, especially when it comes to you."

"Ahh…"

After a brief silence, Kagome asked, "Have you come to a decision yet? Do you want to stay or do you want out? We can still remain friends even if you don't want to get involved. Our world is dangerous. Next time, you might end up with something worse than fractured bones. You might be able to exorcise spirits and ward off youkai, but it would be really difficult for you since you can't see most of them."

"I'll stay." Then for the first time since she had met him, a smirk graced his face. "That idiot needs all the help he could get."

Kagome laughed, "That's true," as Mokona bounced around, singing, "Watanuki written as April first is an idiot. Watanuki written as April first is an idiot."

But she just couldn't shake off the feeling that everything was going according to Yuuko-san's plan. Or rather, fate's plan. After all, nothing was coincidental. Everything was hitsuzen.

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

**What do you think of my**** third ****chapter? Please Read and Review. I would love to know how good and how bad my fics are. If you want to flame me, at least make it constructive criticism.**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize f****ro****m the **_**xxxHolic**_**, **_**Inuyasha**_**, and **_**Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles**_** aren't mines; they belong to their respective owners. Anything else belongs to me. **Please ask for permission and getting it before taking my things.

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

_May fantasy guide your writing through it all - Dementra_


	4. Cost of Greed

_**Of Dreams and Wishes**_

**Hi! Thanks for wanting to read this fanfic. I hope you like this story.**

**But please leave a review. I know that there are lots of people reading this fanfic, but I've only received a few reviews for my effort. Please tell me what you think of my story.**

I have yet to read_ xxxHolic_ manga — all my current knowledge regarding that manga series stem mainly from Wikipedia and some other sites. But I'd read the manga later for references for certain parts. This fanfic would mainly follow _xxxHolic _anime with some addition from the manga. But I would be changing the order of the episodes around and wouldn't include all the cases.

_Of Dreams and Wishes_ takes place after the _Inuyasha_ series, with changes with its ending and certain details. Also, most of the characters from _Inuyasha_ and _Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles _would not be mentioned extensively in this fanfic.

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

**Vocabulary**

Hitsuzen — inevitable, fated

Sengoku Jidai — Feudal Era

Shikon no Tama — Jewel of Four Souls

Miko — priestess, shrine maiden

Youkai — demon

Jaki — miasma, evil energy

Miko ki – priestess energy

Ofuda — protective wards on parchment / paper wards

Osuwari — sit; it's Kagome's command word which triggers a spell on Inuyasha's rosary, sending him flat onto the ground

Ja ne — see you later

Sensei — teacher

**Chapter 4 Cost of Greed**

"Just how much do you have in that treasure warehouse of yours?" Kimihiro asked, both hands resting on his hips, wearing his customary white apron and bandana. Kagome, on the other hand, had opted to simply wear a tank top and short. She didn't quite understand how Yuuko and Kimihiro could stand the heat in their respective yukata and school uniform.

They were currently moving everything out of the warehouse and into the front yard while Yuuko watched on from the porch, drinking her tea.

The Dimension Witch, as Kagome had eventually discovered the other woman was known as in several other worlds, tapped a slender finger on her chin. "Let's see…" She then adopted the expression of a carefree child. "A lot?"

"If it's just gonna pile up, pile it up!" Kimihiro complained. "If you're just gonna shut it up, then shut it up." He gestured at the large pile of a variety of objects. "Don't you know just bringing it outside is a pain! Geez!" He lifted up one of the boxes. "Ah! I can't believe you have all these ceramics just piled up on each other! At least wrap them up in paper." Then he shook off the dust of a hakama. "And this isn't packed in kimono wrapping paper! Don't you have any camphor either?" With a war cry, he patted everything in sight with his duster, sending clouds of dust in the air.

Kagome giggled from her spot where she was wiping a vase decorated in daffodils — it had magical powers, as did many of the items currently spread around them. Kimihiro-kun would make a fine housewife — his food is the best and he was very good at doing chores. It was just a pity it took his parent's death and him living alone for over a decade before this skill set developed.

"And what is this?" he growled, roughly picking up a black fur ball.

She reached out a hand. "Ah! Kimihiro-kun, that's—"

The fur ball uncurled itself and jumped up. "Mokona!" he cheered, bouncing around the increasingly frustrated Kimihiro. It was really cute and amusing how lively and emotional the older teen was. Her temper, one that was usually accompanied by a series of "Osuwari" and thuds, had reared its ugly head less and less as time passed. First, it was due to her general lack in interest in life after the well sealed. Now, it had more to do with her having fun around Kimihiro-kun, Yuuko-san, and all the craziness they brought into her life. Besides, there wasn't anyone here who pushed her buttons as much as Inuyasha had. And she found herself playing the role of a protector rather than the one being protected more here.

"I told you, didn't I?" Yuuko said, after Kimihiro noticed Moro and Maru trying to hit a moving butterfly pattern on a carpet. "That my treasure warehouse is a treasure mountain."

"If that's the case, then how about treating it better?" he exclaimed.

"I do maintenance from time to time."

Kagome tuned off that conversation when she noticed a presence by the fence entrance. It was a young woman with short chestnut hair and equally brown eyes. She wasn't dangerous, but something about her aura was worrying. It was people like her that hitsuzen liked to mess with, in a really bad way.

"Excuse me," the woman called out. "I'm interested in the items you've lined up in your garden." She gestured to herself. "Ah, I'm studying folklore at my university. I go around visiting antique shops and individual homes. I understand that there're many things people won't part with, but I can study just by looking. That's why I just stopped by."

Kagome glanced at Yuuko, who donned on an uncharacteristic frown on her face, and backed up until her shoulders hit Kimihiros's.

Yuuko strolled forward. "That's fine. After all, it was inevitable that you'd come here. What drew you in?"

The woman quickly walked up to a cabinet and picked up a blue tube-shaped container. "It's this. What is this?"

Yuuko's frown deepened. "What do you think it is?"

She examined the container and something rattled within it. "Well, it can't be a kaleidoscope, right? Because you can't look inside it…" She shook it. "Is there something inside?"

"Yes."

Now she looked even more excited. "Could I take this with me? I have no idea why but I was drawn to it at first glance."

One of Kagome's hands reached out and grasped her friend's sleeve. "Kimihiro-kun, I don't like that," she whispered. "It feels wrong." Though it was more like she hadn't sensed its presence at all until the woman picked it up. But now that she noticed it, she knew there was definitely something dangerous about its contents. It felt _similar _to the Shikon no Tama, and nothing good ever came from the cursed jewel. And if an ordinary woman was drawn to an object even she didn't notice, there was no doubt that something really bad was going to happen.

Hitsuzen, as Yuuko-san would've phrased it.

"I'd advise against it," the Dimension Witch said.

The woman blinked. "Is it valuable?"

Yuuko shook her head. "No. But, if you want it anyway, promise me this… Never open that tube."

With a cheerful reply, the woman left, holding the container close to her chest.

"Is that lady going to be okay?" Kimihiro asked, once again tidying up the yard. "You think she'll keep the promise about not opening it?"

Sitting on the porch, Yuuko blew out a wisp of tobacco smoke. "Who knows?"

"Watanuki, Kagome-chan, you didn't even realize the tube was there, did you?"

He shook his head. "No, not at all."

"I only sensed a faint energy from it after the woman picked it up," she replied.

Yuuko blew another trail of smoke. "There's a strong seal on it."

Kimihiro scrunched up his eyebrows. "Is it something that terrible? Then, wouldn't it be better to contact her and tell her that exactly?"

"I could, but when it's time to open, it will open. If not, it won't."

Kagome frowned, carefully packing up several ceramic bowls into a box. "I don't think she'd listen to anything we say, Kimihiro-kun. She's too interested in that container. If you tell someone not to do something, especially if they are interested in that something, they more they'd want to do it, regardless of your warnings."

She had been told not to free Inuyasha, but she had done it anyways (though ultimately, it had been a good call). Miroku-sama had repeatedly been told to stop groping and flirting with woman, but he never learned, despite all the head bashing and slaps he had gotten from Sango-chan. Rin-chan had been told to stay away from Sesshoumaru-sama, but she had forsaken humans just to follow him.

Doing something people told you not to do wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes…

XxXxXxXxX

When school ended, Kagome made her way to the floor where Kimihiro and Doumeki's classroom was — the boys had cleaning duties today. She had arrived just in time to see the woman from yesterday introducing herself to her coworker.

"— I'm Nanami Natsuki. Starting tomorrow, I'd be undergoing my teacher trail. Such mysterious fate." Kagome stiffened on the staircase when she heard that. Fate had a very bad sense of humour. "That kind of stuff happens to me a lot! Whatever it is, it certainly seems to have a strong pull on me." The woman took out the blue tube from her handbag. "This drew me in too. I still don't know what's inside yet, but I think it's something with a history."

Kimihiro leaned forward, frowning. "Ah, about that…" However, before he could finish his sentence, the folklore student received a phone call from her university professor and walked a few steps away.

Kagome hurried over and tugged on her friend's sleeve. "She's gonna open it."

"Yeah," Doumeki said from behind them. "Saying that she doesn't know _yet_ means she's planning on finding out eventually. What's in that tube?"

"I don't know," Kimihiro replied. "But Yuuko-san said not to open it."

When she finished her phone call, Nanami-san glanced at them and said, "I've got to get going. Until next time!"

Kimihiro tried to stop her, but she had already gone down a flight of stairs and bumped into Himawari, causing the blue tube to loosen from her grasp. Himawari instinctively caught the tube, and Kagome gasped. Her friend's tainted aura instantly eroded away the seal. When Himawari handed it back, the container popped opened, revealing a mummified hand wrapped in ofuda and a cloud of jaki.

The miko groaned. A seal strong enough to erase the tube's presence from other people and prevented the container from being pried open shouldn't have broken so easily, even with Himawari-chan's unusual aura. Hitsuzen was really out to get Nanami-san, wasn't it? There won't be a happy ending here.

XxXxXxXxX

"Dry wood?" Nanami-san said, staring down at it, deep in thought. "No… This just might be a Monkey's Paw!" she grinned.

"A Monkey's Paw?" Kimihiro parroted as the three of them headed down the stairs. What was that

"I've seen them in books. It's an item that grants wishes."

Kagome stumbled backwards, accidentally stepping on his foot. "Ow."

"Ah. Sorry, Kimihiro-kun, but I…" Her face was pale and her eyes were wide opened. "There's nothing good about objects which grants its user a wish. Nothing at all." She looked up at him, eyes desperate, begging him to do something about this situation. "You should know, Kimihiro-kun, wishes always comes a price. Yuuko-san could evaluate a wish's worth and what the wisher could give. But objects can't. They don't have a mind. They just take the nearest equivalent price. There's nothing good about objects like that. Nothing good at all."

Her small frame trembled in his arms as he tried to calm her down. Kimihiro didn't like this. Kagome-chan was honesty frightened, and she wasn't scared easily.

_Shikon no Tama_

That word instantly crept out from the back of his mind. He still hadn't asked her about how she had gotten involved with it —_ five hundred years ago no less_ — but she had undoubtedly been affected by the object.

After that night, he had done some research. The Shikon no Tama was said to be an object made from the souls of a very powerful miko, Midoriko, and hundreds of youkai. It also had the ability to grant wishes, when whole, but from what he had read, nothing good had ever stemmed from it. Many, including its guardians, had come to a sticky end. Moreover, most of the information referenced back to the Higurashi Shrine, _Kagome's_ shrine.

It made him wonder if Kagome really was more than five hundred years old or whether she had somehow immersed herself in the memories of those who had been involved with the Shikon no Tama.

Either way, she was deeply affected by the darkness she had witnessed.

"I had no idea!" Nanami-san exclaimed, completely ignoring Kagome's warning. "Until now, I just thought I had an inexpensively bought lucky find… That I'd just found some rare second-hand article…" Her eyes were bright from excitement. "This is good luck. I'm sure of it! Ah, that's right. I should test this right away to see if this is the real thing."

His breath hitched. "I think it's best if you didn't." Kagome had stopped shaking, but her body was still very tense against his.

She didn't seem to hear him at all. "How about this?" She looked at them, grinning toothily. "Let it rain from here until tonight."

The sound of a twig snapping was heard. Minutes later, the sky completely darkened with clouds and rain poured down in buckets.

XxXxXxXxX

"And so, this rain…" Yuuko said, staring outside from the porch.

"Yeah," Kimihiro replied, wiping his wet hair with a towel. Earlier, he had brought Kagome to her room to their second home_ (sometimes, he found himself wondering when Yuuko-san shop had become just that to both of them)_. She had fallen asleep minutes after Moro and Maru had helped her dry down and changed her clothes.

"Well, with that, something like this would be easy." She poured sake into a small cup and took a sip.

He glanced at her. "You mean, it's the real thing?"

"But the compatibility isn't good."

"You mean, between Nanami-san and the Monkey's paw?"

She looked up at the sky. "I doubt she recognizes it, though. She overestimates herself."

Kimihiro frowned. "If they're not compatible, what'll happen? Earlier, Kagome-chan said that nothing good would come from it."

Yuuko poured herself another cup of sake. "That depends on her. But Kagome-chan was right to be wary. She knows very well about the consequences of wishes, especially ones granted by a magical object. Surely, it'll be like a tumbling stone…"

He stayed in one of the guest rooms that night, the one located right next to Kagome's, as he usually did when it had gotten too late. Despite the king-sized bed with its comfy cushion, he found it hard to sleep — his mind too occupied with the Monkey's Paw, Yuuko-san's warning, and Kagome-chan's fearful wariness.

XxXxXxXxX

It was the talk of the school the next day — all the pool water at school vanished without a trace.

"There are stories about the Monkey's Paw in my temple's storage room," Doumeki announced, taking a bite from the bento Kimihiro had prepared for them.

_(She couldn't stress it well enough. Kimihiro-kun was the best cook_ ever_! It wasn't until she met him that she finally understood why people would sometimes say they could marry someone for their cooking. If this quality of food was to be expected every day, she wouldn't mind marrying Kimihiro-kun and keeping his food all to herself. But, then again, she was also happy enough that he had been teaching her how to cook better.)_

"What kind of stories?" Kimihiro asked — his curiosity stronger than his irritation with the other boy.

"Well, a mother wished her son back to life."

Kagome blanched. _That_ was something she was unfortunately very familiar with — Kikyou, Kohaku, Bankotsu, and Jakotsu, to name a few. All of them, except for Kohaku who didn't have a clay body and had Kikyou's blessings, had eventually crumbled back into bone, graveyard dirt, and dust. All of them had suffered in some way after returning from the dead.

Himawari spoke up, "That's a good thing, isn't it? The mother wouldn't have to mourn for her son anymore."

"The son had died from being crushed by machinery. And when the mother made her wish, he was brought back into that broken body," Doumeki said nonchalantly.

This time, both Kimihiro and Himawari also paled.

Wanting to change the subject, Kimihiro asked, "Where do you think the pool water had gone?"

"It's a mystery, isn't it?" Himawari chirped, savouring a pastry.

The two of them continued on brainstorming ideas, some more ridiculous than others _— Do you think that some really thirsty animals came by last night?_ or _Maybe someone came by to steal water so he wouldn't have to pay his water bills._

"Maybe it's the Monkey's Paw," Kagome spoke up, having finished her desert. "Yesterday's rain water has to have come from _somewhere_. You can't make something out of nothing."

She _still_ couldn't believe she had a breakdown yesterday. She was mortified by it. Normally, in such as situation, her tempered would've flared and she would've snatched away the Monkey's Paw without a second thought. Maybe it was the pent up stress from her situation with the Shikon no Tama.

Back then, her thoughts had been too preoccupied with _collecting_ the Shikon no Tama and worrying over her friends to have a breakdown concerning wish-granting objects. And once she had returned from Sengoku Jidai, there hadn't been anything to trigger her breakdown. Until now.

XxXxXxXxX

Kagome-chan snarled — she had actually _snarled_ — when they came across Nanami-san afterschool.

The folklore student had been telling them about the new mirror she had gained from wishing on the Monkey's Paw when his friend did such an uncharacteristic action.

Kimihro placed a hand on her tense shoulder, hoping to calm her down, but it was as if she didn't notice anything but the woman and the Monkey's Paw. "You're such an idiot!" Kagome growled. "Like many before you, you've become too enthralled by an object's wish-granting abilities. Your wishes may have _started_ small and have lesser consequences, but you'd definitely make greater wishes. Soulless objects like the Monkey's Paw could care less about your well-being. Sooner or later, something really bad would happen to you."

Nanami-san quickly recovered from her shock at being yelled at by a younger student, and held the tube close to her heart with both hands. She smirked. "It'll be just fine. I told you before. I have really good luck. I'll show you I can hand this properly." Without another word, she spun around on her heels and walked away, chin high and back straight.

"She just doesn't understand," Kagome scowled, gritting her teeth. "Nothing good would ever happen between an arrogant person and wish-granting objects. If she wanted a wish to be granted, she should go to Yuuko-san instead."

Seeing the black smoke emitting from the Monkey's Paw, he would have to agree to her statement, even if he still thought Yuuko-san was a coercive saleswoman and witch-devil. Kimihiro patted her shoulder. "It's alright. We'll try our best to make her stop."

"She's not going to listen to anything we say. Not until she experiences a horrible consequence. I'll meet you back home later, Kimihiro-kun." Then, grumbling to herself, she stomped off.

XxXxXxXxX

Higurashi stormed into the archery field, barely remembering to take off her shoes. Ignoring all the looks the other club members were giving her, she strode over to him and took his longbow — "I need to borrow this for a bit, Doumeki-kun. And your arrows as well." Wanting to see where this was going, Shizuka had stepped aside.

To his surprise, she took on a perfect stance and firing arrow after arrow, with barely a second's pause in between, muttering angrily to herself. All of them struck the bull's-eye, and there was even one which had spilt another arrow _(it was the one right at the center point of the board)_, much to everyone's awe. He also noticed that some of the arrows had sparks of pink energy flickering from them.

Shizuka recognized the energy — it was her miko ki. Ever since he had decided to venture deeper into their world, she had occasionally came over to his shrine and taught him how to focus his energy without the use of his bow — which was why he had no idea how good she was at archery until now.

Still, what made Higurashi-san so riled up that she was leaking out her miko ki?

She didn't stop until she realized that her quiver of ten had been emptied up onto the target. Higurashi handed his items back, with pink dusting her cheeks. "Sorry, I needed something to vent out my anger before I vent it out on that stupid girl and her stupid Monkey's Paw," she muttered darkly. "Urg! Even _thinking_ about it makes me mad. I really should ask Yuuko-san if I could set up an archery range in her garden. I can't believe I forgot how relaxing it could be. I must've really been out of it when I returned here."

"You over there!" the club captain called out, walking over. "You're Doumeki's friend, aren't you? Would you like to join the archery club?"

Higurashi chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. "Ah, thanks for the offer, but no. I came over here cuz it was the nearest place I could vent out my anger. I'm usually busy with a part-time job. And I tend to destroy arrows since I split them so often. I tried not to today, but my concentration slipped and I split one of them. Sorry. Oh, and the targets as well. Well, I get really angry, I sometimes can't control myself that well."

Shizuka could attest to that. He had seen firsthand some of the destruction their energies made when they didn't control it well enough. If Higurashi poured more of her miko ki into the arrows, they would've shot right through the targets, destroying it after one session, or less.

But he was really impressed that she had deliberately peppered the arrows all over the bull's-eye.

"Thanks, Doumeki-kun, for letting me borrow your bow and arrows. The bow is really well made, even if it was a bit too big for someone my size. I'd better get going back to the shop now. Ja ne!"

As soon as she was out of sight, his fellow club members crowded around him, all asking about Higurashi-san. Hm… Maybe he should take a leaf out of her book and get out earlier today.

XxXxXxXxX

"At gym today, Nanami-san told us she has made her third wish," Kimihiro announced, at they walked back to Yuuko's shop.

Kagome hummed. "Then she only has two wishes left now. Did she tell you what she wished for?" Ever since she had yelled at her, the folklore student had taken to avoiding her and sending her smug, superior, looks whenever their eyes meet.

"Yeah, she said that she wished for research material for her thesis. She said that her professor thought it was so good that he would introduce her to a publisher."

She frowned. "It's already too late for her."

Kimihrio glanced over at her. "What do you mean by that, Kagome-chan?"

"Remember what Yuuko-san said? The Yata mirror she had wished for was actually stolen from an antique store by the Monkey's Paw. Where do you think her research materials came from? If the other person finds out about it and have proof that the research material originally belongs to them, Nanami-san would be accused of plagiarism and would forever have that black mark on her record. She'd undoubtedly try to undo the damage by wishing on the Monkey's Paw, but in her grief and anger, she might say the wrong words. Like I've said before, the Monkey's Paw doesn't have a soul. It'd take her words literally as they are said, regardless of how it would affect other people as well as the user."

Back then, when she had been stuck inside the void that was the Shikon no Tama, she had almost succumbed to her own fears of being alone. If she hadn't heard her friend's voices from within the darkness, she would've made the wrong wish and become swallowed up by the jewel.

Nanami-san didn't have that luxury, simply because she wasn't willing to listen to anyone.

XxXxXxXxX

"Did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"There was an accident in the subway station this morning. That's why Nanami-sensei was late."

"Eh… Really? What happened?"

"A woman fell into the tracks and was crushed by the train. Instant death."

"I heard that Nanami-sensei was there when it happened."

"Eh! Poor Nanami-sensei. No wonder she looked so terrible in class today."

Whispers like that spread across the campus like wild fire. Everyone gave the folklore student a wide breadth and pitying looks. Her face was pale and she was constantly seen walking in the hallways muttering to herself while biting on the flesh of her thumb. To those with the Sight, there were wisps of jaki following her everywhere.

XxXxXxXxX

Nanami Natsuki was never to be seen again. Her cell phone was later found in the music storage room — the last call being from a professor at her university. Apparently, the folklore student hadn't cancelled the call after being notified of her plagiarism; and the professor had heard her blaming something, telling it to erase everything. Then there was a scream, a gurgle, and nothing more.

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

**What do you think of my**** fourth ****chapter? **Please Read and Review.** I would love to know how good and how bad my fics are. If you want to flame me, at least make it constructive criticism.**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize f****ro****m the **_**xxxHolic**_**, **_**Inuyasha**_**, and **_**Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles**_** aren't mines; they belong to their respective owners. Anything else belongs to me. **Please ask for permission and getting it before taking my things.

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

_May fantasy guide your writing through it all - Dementra_


	5. Bonds of Relationship

_**Of Dreams and Wishes**_

**Hi! Thanks for wanting to read this fanfic. I hope you like this story.**

**Phew… It took me hours to finish this. I hope you enjoy my unusual fast updates. Unfortunately, there's really no telling when this pace would slow down.**

All my current knowledge regarding _xxxHolic_ manga stem mainly from Wikipedia and some other sites, but I do read some manga chapters for references for certain details the anime doesn't provide. _(I'd most likely read the entire manga later.) _As such, this fanfic would mainly follow _xxxHolic _anime with some addition from the manga.

However, I would be changing the order of the episodes around and wouldn't include all the cases, so don't complain if you find that my fanfic doesn't follow the same chronological order as in the anime and manga.

_Of Dreams and Wishes_ takes place after the _Inuyasha_ series, with changes with its ending and certain details. Also, most of the characters from _Inuyasha_ and _Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles _would not appear as often as the _xxxHolic_ main characters and Kagome.

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

**Vocabulary**

Hitsuzen — inevitable, fated

Kitsune — fox

Hajaya — evil-crushing arrow; the one Shizuka gave Kimihiro who gave it to a young kitsune

Ofuda — protective wards on parchment / paper wards

Shiritori — a Japanese word game in which the players take turns coming up with a word which begins with the same syllable as the word another player said in the turn before; also considered an ancient defence, as it is supposed to create an isolated space around the players, protecting them from evil

Shikon no Tama — Jewel of Four Souls

Shikon no Miko — Priestess of Shikon no Tama; in order words, its guardian

Shikon no kakera — Shikon shards

Hanyou — half demon

Youkai — demon

Miko — priestess, shrine maiden

Miko ki – priestess energy

Jaki — miasma, evil energy

Reiki — spiritual energy

Inu — dog

Hotaru — firefly

Giri-choco — obligation chocolates; it's for family, friends, and acquaintances

Honmei-choco — chocolate reserved for lovers or family members

Ame-warashi — rain sprite

Zashiki-warashi — vestal sprite; supposed to bring fortune when staying with a household, but fortune declines when zashiki-warashi leaves

Karasu tengu — crow-billed goblin

Tengu — goblin

**Chapter 5 Bonds of Relationship**

Kagome sighed, snuggling into her new stuffed animal. She had a really great time tonight. Not only had she eaten genuine kitsune oden — her favourite food — but she had also met two descendents of her little Shippou-chan, who lacked her son's illusion abilities and appeared as bipedal kistune instead of a human form.

According to the father, Shippou-chan had been the kind old man who often told her stories and treated her to the best oden in the world when she had been younger. But five hundred years was a very long time, and he had passed away in his sleep several months before her adventure began.

It was funny how the stories that old man had told her became the bedtime stories she told young Shippou-chan. And so very touching as well. Even after five hundred years, her brave little kitsune still remembered the stories he had heard as a kit and had passed them back to her.

Before Shippou-chan had died, he had left behind a handmade stuffed fox with the instructions to his descendents to give it to his mother, the Shikon no Miko. It was covered by a beautiful orange-red fur, the same colour as his tail's, with real emeralds as eyes and a green ribbon around its neck. The ribbon was well-worn. Kagome was certain it was the same one her Shippou-chan wore during their adventures, which only made the gift even more precious.

In return for safekeeping stuffed fox before she arrived, Kagome had given the father and son pair a lucky charm, which she had blessed and purified, each. Kimihiro had also paid for their kitsune oden by giving the son a hajaya, which Doumeki had sneaked into his bag before they parted from the archery tournament building. Since it was laced with Doumeki's evil-repelling energy, the broken arrow would serve as a protection from jaki.

Afterwards, when they returned to the shop, they had a pre-full moon drinking party with the kitsune oden the father had given them.

Yep, all in all, it had been a very good night.

XxXxXxXxX

"Do you believe in the red string of destiny?"

Kagome blinked up at him. "What brought this topic on, Kimihiro-kun?"

"Today, Himawari-chan showed me a book called _Soulmates_ and asked me that question." He hugged himself, wearing the dopy grin she had come to associate with his crush. "Aahh~! Do you think she was indirectly confessing her undying love to me?" He suddenly growled, waving a fist in front of him, and startling Kagome from the sudden change in mood. "But then that stupid Doumeki just _had_ to cut in. He said something about how prostitutes from the Edo era would cut off their left pinkie and give it to their lover to not betray the red string of destiny tying them together."

"I don't know," Kagome said, replying to his earlier question. "I believe in fate, but I'm not sure I believe in the red string of destiny. Fate can bring two people together, but it doesn't mean that their relationship would definitely work out, or even go beyond friendship in the first place."

Fate had led Inuyasha and Kikyou together, but because fate had _also_ led Kikyou to the Shikon no Tama and Onigumo, their love hadn't worked out. Still, it probably wouldn't have worked out even if Naraku hadn't interfered. Kikyou was a miko. Inuyasha was a hanyou. Kikyou was duty-bound to her village, something that made her really unhappy, and she was also unwilling to accept Inuyasha's youkai side, as proven by how she wanted Inuyasha to become a pureblood human.

It hadn't been until Kikyou had been resurrected, and after many months of working through her vengeance-issues and battling Naraku, died in Inuyasha's arms that the ill-fated miko was finally broken free of the ties she had hated. Perhaps, in another life, those two would be together again.

Kagome had come to realize that she wasn't Kikyou's reincarnation; though it wasn't something she had told the rest. When Kikyou had died the second time, her soul had ascended to the heavens, instead of returning to the body it had been ripped out from. It meant Kagome hadn't been missing a part of her soul.

She theorized that Kikyou's soul had been dragged along the ride with the Shikon no Tama because her body had been burnt with it. So, Kagome had actually been born with her soul, the Shikon no Tama, and Kikyou's soul, which had led to their similar appearance. Their unique ability to sense the Shikon no kakera probably stemmed from their soul's close contact with the jewel before it had been ripped out of Kagome's side.

Since _she_ wasn't Kikyou's reincarnation, there was a chance Kikyou would be reincarnated later. Hopefully, she would be able to meet Inuyasha, or his reincarnation, somewhere down the line and live happily ever after.

XxXxXxXxX

When they arrived back at the store, they were greeted by the sight of a young woman with waist-length curly hair waiting at the front door. She seemed a bit nervous, playing with her fingers.

"Welcome to the store," Kimihiro smiled. "Are you looking for Yuuko-san?"

The woman licked her lips. "Yuuko-san? Um… I just kind of wandered here by coincidence."

He chuckled sheepishly. Just how many times had he heard a phrase similar to that? "Ah, that's—"

"That was no coincidence," Yuuko cut in as she strolled into sight. "There are no coincidences in this world. There is only hitsuzen. That you came here means that you must have some wish you'd like granted."

Kimihiro sighed. _Here goes Yuuko-san's usual business tactics…_ Beside him, Kagome giggled in her hand.

"Wish?" the woman asked.

"That's right," Yuuko replied, voice as sweet as honey. "Here, any wish can be granted as long as equivalent payment is met."

The woman glanced away before bowing slightly. "There really isn't anything I'd call a wish, but…" She held up a finger. "But for some reason, I've been having difficulty in moving my pinkie lately."

Kimihiro blinked. _Wasn't there someone…_

"Didn't the woman who constantly lied also have this problem?" Kagome whispered.

Sure enough, there were wisps of black smoke coming from her pinkie. Was she a compulsive liar as well?

Yuuko frowned, eyeing the finger. "You have a really bad habit, don't you?"

"Habit?"

"Yeah, isn't there one that comes to mind?"

The woman looked away, nibbling at the flesh of her thumb. "I… I don't really know what it could be." She backed up. "I'll be going then. I have an appointment I can't be late for."

As she was about to open the door, Yuuko asked, "Appointment?"

"Yes. It's the guy I'm seeing now. He really cares for me. So, I really need to go…" The smoke from her pinkie increased.

Yuuko smiled, the same one which implied she knew exactly where this was going but wasn't going to tell anyone. "I see. Then I'll give you this." She held up a silver ornate ring.

The woman turned around. "Would I help me with my pinkie?"

"Who knows? Whether you wear it or not is up to you. Same for the fixing, or not, of that habit."

She reached out, with a trembling hand, for the ring, and then, left the shop.

"Smoke from coming out from her pinkie," Kimihiro said.

Kagome nodded. "Yes, but it doesn't seem like she was lying about that appointment."

He bit his lower lip. Would she also become unable to move away from danger because of the smoke like the other woman? "I'm going out!" he called out, rushing to the door.

"I'll go with you."

XxXxXxXxX

Kagome huffed. She wasn't impressed with that woman at all — a female two-timing Inuyasha with worse mood swings than the inu hanyou. She and Kimihiro-kun had found her just in time to hear about the woman's recent breakup, scowls and all. Then, the woman did a 180 degree in personality — glasses, high schoolgirl voice, pretend-innocence, and extreme clinginess — when she met a handsome male whom she called Yoshiki-kun.

"Let's promise," the woman said, holding onto her boyfriend's hand and entwining their pinkies together.

"Why?"

"Come on! After all, we're tied together by the red string of destiny! 'Kay? From now on, let's always be together!" And a cloud of smoke enveloped the couple.

Kimihiro glanced around, bewildered. She tugged at his sleeve. "Is something wrong, Kimihro-kun?" She didn't sense anything bad in the vicinity, but she wasn't as sensitive to spirits as he was.

"Didn't you hear that? A kid was singing the pinkie promise song." Before she could reply, he jumped out from their hiding spot. "Ah! They've crossed the street." Kimihiro almost dashed out into the incoming traffic if she hadn't pulled him back in time.

"Idiot," she chided, poking his chest. "Don't cross the road before looking both ways. You could've gotten kill!"

He rubbed the back of his head. "Ah, sorry, sorry. Thanks for saving me, Kagome-chan."

But it was too late; the couple had already disappeared from sight.

XxXxXxXxX

Afterschool, when they were going their grocery shopping, they found yesterday's guest sitting at a café with another male. This time, she was playing the older woman role instead of the young innocence girl. She was even smoking a cigarette while the male stared at her adoringly.

Absolutely disgusting! That two-timer was even _worse_ than Inuyasha. At the very least, Inuyasha had never had a complete personality change when be came to interacting with her or Kikyou.

Kagome grabbed Kimihiro's hand and dragged him over to the café, making sure to stay out of the couple's sight.

The woman slipped off the ring Yuuko gave her. "And then, this odd fortune teller-looking woman," she said, in a rough-accent, "forced me to take this ring." She placed it on the table. "Got the feeling like, if I wear this, somehow or another, it'll help me feel better."

"I'm glad," the younger male replied. "Lately, you've been saying you weren't feeling well, and I was worried."

She took another puff of cigarette, deliberately blowing the smoke in his face, though he didn't seem to mind it. "It's so relaxing being with you. It sure put your mind at ease, in the end, being unadorned." Her cell phone alarm rang. "Ah! Oh no! It's time already…"

The man adopted a kicked-puppy expression. "Huh? You have something to do now? I was hoping we could go and get something to eat."

Packing up her things, she smiled. "Oh, that's fine for today. I promised to go to the amusement part with some friends."

"Some friends?" he asked, leaning forward.

Kagome scoffed. It was obvious he was worried those 'friends' were males.

"Yeah," she replied, fixing her hair. "The three of us became friends when we were just high school girls."

He sighed in relief and smiled. "So, when do you think we can get together again? How's next Sunday?"

"I'm sorry. I'm going shopping on Sunday. I'm good for next Tuesday, though," she said, putting on some lipstick. "How about we get something to eat then? I'd like to eat some Chinese."

"Got it. I'll make reservations."

Kagome sighed, shaking her head. _That poor guy. He doesn't even know she's just playing with him. I wonder, is it better to know the person you like is interested in someone else? Or is it better to not know you're being stringed along. Well… ignorance is a bliss of sorts…_

"Alright, that's a promise," the woman said, entwining their pinkies together.

That must be her bad habit, Kagome realized. Then, noticing that Kimihiro was glancing around, she asked, "Did you hear that song again?"

"Uh. Did you?"

"Nope. It seems like only you could." She got up and tugged on his arm. "Come on. Let's go."

XxXxXxXxX

They followed her all the way to an amusement where, where the woman immediately wore her glasses and latched onto the arm of the man she was with yesterday.

"Sorry," she squealed, voice akin to a young girl. "The seminar was long, and I had a difficult time getting out of there. Could you ever forgive me?" she asked, rubbing her cheek against his arm.

"Of course."

Kagome's hand tightened around his almost painfully. "Disgusting," she hissed through clenched teeth. Then she glared up at him, pink miko ki swirling in the depths of her purple eyes. "You'd better _not_ be like that woman, Ki. Mi. Hi. Ro. Kun. If you do, I'd purify your ass out of existence."

He yelped, back straightened. "Yes, ma'am." At that moment, she was scarier than any spirit he had ever encountered, possibly because the bracelet she had given him was also glowing pink, and felt warm against his skin, in response to her raise in energy.

"Hm… Don't you smell like cigarettes?"

"Huh? No way! You know I don't smoke. It must've been the professor. He was smoking throughout the whole seminar. Aah… What a pain." The woman brushed away her hair.

"Is that so?"

His friend growled again. "Just kiss her, you idiot. I bet she tastes like ash."

Kimihiro sighed, not bothering to tell her his hand was really hurting now. He had a feeling he would get yelled at if he did. Still, did Kagome-chan have experiences with two-timers? She seemed awfully angry about this, even more than the average person.

They trailed them through the amusement part, until the couple arrived at a True Love game. According to the mechanic announcer by the front entrance, if their love was real, their fingers won't be cut; but if the opposite was true, the red string of destiny holding them together will be cut.

Inside the building, there was an arena with a small guillotine in the middle. The woman and her boyfriend sat on opposite sides of it, with their right wrist strapped to the table and their pinkies entwined where the blade would fall.

Kimihiro gasped. Thick black smoke enveloped the guillotine blade, before being absorbed into it. And children's voice sounded again:

_Pinkie promise, hope to die  
Swallow a thousand needles if you lie  
Finger's cut_

The blade dropped.

Slender fingers slipped under his glasses and covered his eyes. "Don't look, Kimihiro-kun." Kagome pulled him backwards.

A thud and three screams.

"My pinkie! My pinkie!" the woman shrieked.

"Oh my god! Someone! Call the ambulance!" the boyfriend shouted.

Another voice, a male he didn't recognize stuttered. "T-This sh-shouldn't have happened. H-How? The blade is made of plastic, and it's not supposed to go all the way down."

Kagome continued to pull him backwards. He pulled at her hands, but they remained firmly over his eyes. "No. Wait. Let go. That woman!"

"Both of their pinkies were held there, but only the woman's finger was cut. Jaki was the thing which did it, not the blade itself. There's nothing will could do about it now. Not even modern-day medicine could fix it because of the jaki."

She didn't let him go until they were outside of the building. They sat on a nearby bench. People were already rushing over to that game stall; there was no need for them to interfere.

Fingering his bracelet, he said, "Kagome-chan…"

"Yes?"

He stared into her eyes, which were now a still purple. "You have healing abilities, don't you? Can't you heal that woman?"

Kagome looked down at her hands. "I don't think I could help her, Kimihiro-kun. I covered your eyes, so you didn't see it, but… it wasn't a clean cut. Jaki had cauterized her wound. In order to attach her severed pinkie back together, I'd have to cut away the burnt parts from both pieces — flesh, bones, and all. Jaki is more potent than fire; so much of it would be unsalvageable. Either way, her finger would never be the same again. I'm sorry I'm not much help."

Kimihro patted her hair, careful not to loosen her messy bun. "It's alright."

They had never heard from the woman again, but he was certain she would be very wary of her love relationships from now on.

XxXxXxXxX

It was the night before the all-so-important Valentine's Day, and they were all gathered in the kitchen — Kagome and Kimihiro were making chocolate treats while the other four were watching them carefully right outside in the hallway _(though her friend was most likely unaware of that)_, trying to sneak food away when the cooks were off guard.

Unlike Kimihiro, who had been forced to make fondant au chocolat by a certain Dimension Witch, Kagome was simply making small assorted chocolates with the help of a chocolate mould — fillings included hard chocolate, caramel, peanuts, coconut, and almonds _(she had made sure that they weren't allergic to the ingredients beforehand)_.

This year, the recipients of her giri-choco were Kimihiro-kun, Yuuko-san, Moro-chan, Maru-chan, Mokona, Doumeki-kun, and Himawari-chan. She was also making a few extra bags just in case she came across any of her other friends, like Ame-warashi and the kitsune from the oden cart.

Unfortunately, there won't be any honmei-choco coming from her. Last year, they had been for Inuyasha, since he was her dear former-crush. _(Hojo-kun had been severely disappointed; and Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi had hound on about it.) _But, this year, she had yet to meet boyfriend-material yet. Well, not quite; after all, Kimihiro-kun and Doumeki-kun were the only potential candidates so far.

Kimihiro-kun was really sweet; he reminded her of the innocence she once held before blood and darkness stained her soul. Like Shippou-chan, he always tried his very best despite being scared and weaker than his foes, and he was someone she wanted to protect. He was also very loyal to the few friends he had — probably because other people had been easily scared away by his seemingly illogical actions, back then when he had been harassed from all sides by spirits.

If Kimihiro-kun was fire — erratic, emotional, and an alluring beacon in the darkness — Doumeki-kun was earth — stable, constant, and always there when you need him. He didn't need her protection; all he needed was a trigger for his powers and some aid in focusing his powers — akin to Inuyasha, except much less volatile and without the inu hanyou's two-timing problems.

Either way, it came down to Kagome. She wasn't ready to open up her heart yet. The wounds from her constant heartbreak over Inuyasha and Kikyou had started healing after she finally resolved to have a sister-brother relationship said inu hanyou, but being stripped away from Sengoku Jidai had effectively drilled a hole into her. Not to mention, she still wasn't quite sure what merging with the purified Shikon no Tama had done to her.

Once in a while, she felt like she didn't belong at school, with other humans; and it wasn't just because of her otherworldly experiences. Kagome still couldn't figure it, but she was more than certain it had something to do with the Shikon no Tama _(Stupid thing, still cuasing her so much trouble after it was _supposed_ to be gone)_.

And until she had figured out what had happened to her, she just wasn't ready to be anything more than a friend to any males.

XxXxXxXxX

Okay… Perfect… "It's done," he announced.

Footsteps thundered into the kitchen. "It's done? The Valentine's chocolate is done?" Yuuko asked, hands clasped under her chin, batting her eyes at him, or rather, at the bowl of molten chocolate.

Which he quickly saved from two black paws.

"Stop right there!" Kimihiro shrieked, jerking the bowl over his head, ignoring the "Tch!" from Mokona. "No stealing! I just meant I was done _heating_ the chocolate." He then brought it back down so he could resume stirring, though he made sure to hunch over the entire bowl to keep it from wandering hands. "Honesty, why do _I_ have to make you chocolates anyways?" he grumbled. "It's Valentine's Day, not White Day. _Girls_ should be making chocolates."

Kagome laughed and patted him on his back. "You're Yuuko-san's cook, remember? So, while you've taken her role of making chocolate, I'm quite sure _she'd_ be the one giving them out as if she was who made it."

That prompted another series of dark mutters from Kimihiro as vented out his anger on the chocolate. Cooking had always been the one thing which could calm him down. It distracted him from loneliness, feeling that he was, in a way, with his family in the kitchen as he cooked. And now he had people to share his food with, pride swelled up within him every time they complimented on his cooking, which they did without fail, verbally or non-verbally.

Meeting Yuuko-san, despite her devilishness, was a godsend. He had gotten much closer to Himawari-chan _(Ah! Himawari-chan! Even thinking about her brought the sun out…)_ ever since he had started working at the shop. Doumeki _(that damn bottomless stomach!) _as well, however reluctant he was to admit it, was helpful when it came to dealing with Yuuko-san's cases for her.

Kagome-chan had also become his best friend in the past few months since they had first met. She always helped him out with whatever crazy scheme Yuuko-san had cooked up, even if she did often laugh at his expense. _(He _still_ wasn't quite sure how _crossdressing_, of all things, would help on a case they had regarding a theatre owner's wish to pacify the ghost of his lover and lead-actress haunting the stage. After much protest on his part, he and Kagome had ended up switching their roles, and it had worked out perfectly_ and_ without crossdressing.)_

Unlike Yuuko-san, Kagome-chan didn't put him down or tease him when he gushed about Himawari-chan and her cuteness. She would listen patiently and would offer him advice. Of course, she too would occasionally roll her eyes and bat him playfully in the shoulder when he got too enthusiastic.

Sometimes, she would tell him of her experiences with spirits and youkai, though he was certain she had left out certain important details. His friend also taught him, in their spare time, simple methods to ward against jaki, such as the ancient defence of shiritori _(unfortunately, at least two people must be present for it to work)_.

Moreover, the bracelet she had given him was still as strong as ever. As long as she recharged it with her miko ki every few days, he didn't need to spend as much money on ofuda as he used to. _(He still put them up around his house to prevent spirits from entering, but they didn't burn out as fast now because spirits weren't really that interested in the house when he wasn't present. And the bracelet also helped in warding them out when he was at home.)_

"It looks delicious!" Kagome cooed, looking over his shoulders, as he set up the table.

Kimihiro looked away. "It's my first time making it, so I'm not sure how it'll taste," he mumbled.

"I wouldn't worry so much about it, Kimihiro-kun. From _my_ experience, everything you cook is delicious." His cheeks reddened from her praise and his lips tugged into a satisfied smile. It never got old, not matter how many times he had heard it.

"Yes!" Yuuko squealed, looking at the clock. "It's officially February fourteen. Happy Valentine's Day!" And with that, she promptly dug into her plate of fondant au chocolat. "Mmm… Delicious!" she cooed, a sentiment echoed throughout the room.

With a spoon dangling from her mouth, Kagome passed out a bag of her handmade chocolate to everyone present. "Here, happy Valentine's Day," she said, to which she received thanks for.

This happy atmosphere stayed in the room, despite Yuuko and Mokona's commands for more alcohol, right up until Kimihiro found out Yuuko was using the rest of his hard work as a way to receive White Day presents from a group of dimension travellers — Syaoran, Sakura, Fai, Kurogane, and the white Mokona they had with them.

XxXxXxXxX

Himawari sighed, staring up at the ceiling of her bedroom. It was once again Valentine's Day. Like always, she didn't go to school; she called in sick this year. If she went to school, many of the boys and her friends would expect chocolates from her, but she couldn't afford to give them any. From past experiences, every one of her recipients, barring her parents, would become affected by her bad luck aura through her chocolates.

Kagome-chan _had_ offered to purify her tainted aura from the chocolates a few days ago, but Himawari had turned down her offer. After all, people would expect her to give out chocolates next year if she did it this year, and she wasn't certain Kagome-chan would always be there to help her with this problem.

It was a shame her friend couldn't completely purify her bad luck-giving aura. Kagome-chan had told her that it had been so engrained in her soul that purifying the aura meant potentially killing her, so the miko wasn't willing to do so even if she had enough power. Yuuko-san _did_ have the ability to rid of her problem, but she had been warned that the price was too great for her to pay.

She dearly wanted to be a normal girl without such a horrible aura and had secretly thought she probably could've paid any price for her desire to be granted. But, after Kagome-chan told her some stories about wishes and their consequences, Himawari had squashed that childish voice down deep within her.

Watanuki-kun had _no _idea just how _lucky_ he was to have Kagome-chan and Doumeki-kun _(whom she suspected also knew of her predicament as he was often seen stuck by Watanuki's side like glue, especially when she was around)_ by his side. Without them, she would've never agreed to accompany him for lunch, no matter how delicious his food was.

She loved his obvious devotion towards her. While he may say _she_ was the sun in his heart, he would also be the moon and stars to her darkness. He brightened a life where she always had to be careful about human contact. He energetic self never failed to distract her from her eternal problem and bring a genuine smile to her face.

Nevertheless, he was just so _oblivious_. Sometimes, Himawari grew tired of her façade and just wanted him to open his blinded eyes. _Look! Can't you see? You can sense evil energy, can't you? Then why aren't you _really_ looking at me?_ She had this urge to show him exactly what it meant to be so close to her all the time.

But like her childish wish, she pushed that dark desire to the furthest part of her mind, though it kept rearing its ugly head from time to time.

XxXxXxXxX

School was hell.

Girls were giggling like maniacs, pushing their friends to confess to their crush; and boys were vying for chocolate like cats for catnip. Even the teachers had been affected by the Valentine's craze — some participating in the giving of chocolates while others were pretending not to be pleased when receiving them.

Kagome wouldn't have minded it, in all honesty… If those freaking boys stopped asking whether she was giving out chocolates (specifically to the one asking)! She shouldn't have gone to the archery range that day. She just shouldn't have.

While Himawari was famous for her sweet smiles and her lack of a boyfriend, Kagome had become popular in her own way. News of her skills had spread across campus; and there wasn't a week where she hadn't been hounded by the archery club members (especially that stubborn captain) to join their club.

Then, other boys had noticed the attention she had gained from those students and had thought she was probably a good catch because of it. It didn't help that she hung out with Kimihiro-kun, Doumeki-kun, and Himawari-chan, who were all well-known for different reasons.

If another boy came up to her and… Shit!

Kagome walked away as fast as she could, without it being called running _(she had already been told off by several teachers today)_. Her face lit up upon spotting her friends.

"Kimihiro-kun! Doumeki-kun!" she called out. Kagome dashed behind her coworker, who had been closer. "Hide me!" she meeped.

Kimihiro's bad reputation for having psychotic fits and Doumeki's stoic demeanour usually warded off other people, which was why they usually had peaceful lunches even with the ever popular Himawari present there.

"An admirer?" the exorcist-in-training asked, after scaring the other student away.

She nodded, still not letting go of her friend's shirt. "Uh. That's the_ fourth _time he has tried to corner me. Honesty, couldn't he get a hint after I told him that I don't have any chocolates for him in front of the entire class? Hey, could we please go to somewhere quieter, preferably _without_ the other students."

XxXxXxXxX

"— And then, that jerk ate all the chocolate!" Watanuki whined as they headed towards the park. "It was the fondant au chocolat I was planning to give to _Himawari-chan_! Oh, and she didn't come to school today. They said she had a cold. Do you think she's okay? Do you think we should go and visit her?"

Higurashi smiled. "I'm sure it's just a common cold, Kimihiro-kun. But if you want, we could always visit her later. She's probably tired and in bed right now. We shouldn't disturbed her rest."

"Yeah, you're right."

Their interactions were quite amusing to watch, especially when Kunogi-san was also with them. Shizuka would take this over the television at any day at any time.

It usually began with Watanuki fawning over Kunogi-san, who, when present, would somehow shift his attention over to him. If not, then Higurashi-san would pacify or distract the other male. But, in the end, Watanuki's attention would typically fall on him and then he would say something to rile up the more emotional teen.

"Hotaru?" Watanuki asked, his gaze following something invisible.

Higurashi frowned. "No, it has more reiki than a normal firefly." The two of them traced the "hotaru" back to its source.

Shizuka blinked when a young girl materialized into existence before his eyes, a few meters to their left. This was new… He usually went blind when dealing with spirits.

The girl sighed and then glanced shyly at them. She yelped when she noticed them staring and quickly looked away. "What should I do? What should I do?" she mumbled to herself, glancing at them occasionally, face flushed red. "I have to find it quickly."

"Are you okay?" Higurashi asked, walked up to her.

She yelped, covering her mouth both her hands. "Wha-wha-what should I dooo?" Glancing over at him and Watanuki, her blush deepened. "I never expected to meet you here!"

"Did you drop something?" the miko asked.

Her eyes darted around. "N-No. I'm looking for Valentine chocolate. I want to give it to someone really special to me." Suddenly, her face lit up and she clasped her hands together. "But I've just found it!" she cheered.

The girl skipped towards Shizuka, beaming. "Right here!" Her hand penetrated his stomach, and he stiffened. It didn't hurt, but it felt really weird, as if she was touching his whole being. Suddenly, there was a sharp pain and nothing more.

XxXxXxXxX

"Yay! It looks delicious!" the sprite _(Kagome could sense that the girl was of a similar level as Ame-warashi)_ cheered, staring down at the fondant au chocolat she had pulled from Doumeki's stomach. _That_ didn't spark Kagome's concern. But, the glow around it did.

She refrained from stomping up to the insolent girl, instead, she yelled from her spot where she was supporting the exorcist's fallen body. "Hey! Give Doumeki-kun back his soul!"

Tears swelled in her eyes. "B-But um… I… um… I just… wanted to give him… some chocolate." She suddenly ran away, followed by a smarm of the blue hotaru Kagome and Kimihiro had seen earlier, which boosted the sprite up into the sky and out of sight.

"She flew…" Kimihiro whispered.

"Of course, she did," Kagome snapped. "She's not human. And now she's taken Doumeki-kun's soul with her." He stared at her wide-eyes. She'll apologize to him later, but this was more urgent. Having experienced her soul being both fully and partially pulled out of her in the past, she knew exactly how bad it was for her friend. "Get Yuuko-san!"

"Don't bother, Kagome-chan," Yuuko cut in. "I'm here."

Kimihiro stared at the unconscious male. "Um… That spirit… Was I…"

"That girl isn't something one would meet by accident."

He groaned. "So, you're saying that it's really all my fault, huh?" A brief bout of silence later, he asked, "What should I do to return him to normal?" That was a part Kagome really like about her friend. Kimihiro wasn't afraid of correcting a wrong. But, it was also the part which caused for worry. One day, he would sacrifice more than just time and effort to right something he deemed as wrong.

Yuuko grinned. "I could tell you, but it'd cost you."

Kimihiro grimaced. That meant more hours of servitude, though no one except for Yuuko knew how long his original sentence was in the first place. Under normal circumstances, he would've been complaining about the unfairness of it, but Kagome knew he was willing to take responsibility for Doumeki's lost of his soul.

"I'll add it onto your work time," the Dimension Witch said as expected. She whistled, and a white bird, the size of a two-storey building, descended in front of them with Mokona holding onto the reins.

"How wonderful, Mokona!" Yuuko cooed. "You're too cool!" The black puffball just smirked in response. She then turned to Kimihiro and ordered, "Watanuki, get on this bird and go after the girl. Kagome-chan and I'll take care of Doumeki-kun's body."

Kimihiro grumbled, but he did as commanded, and the trio took off into the night sky.

"What is she, Yuuko-san?"

"She's a Zashiki-warashi. That girl must've taken quite a liking to my Watanuki. It's rare for her to come to a place so full of humans, since she's weak against ill-will and maliciousness. That's why she's always taking refuge in the mountain recesses where spirit energy is strong. The Karasu tengu proclaimed themselves as her bodyguard, so Watanuki might run into some trouble," Yuuko laughed.

Kagome sighed. "Yuuko-san…

XxXxXxXxX

A few hours later, Kimihiro (and Mokona and the bird) returned, with the chocolate and soul in hand. Doumeki was fine, though his muscles had stiffened a bit as if having slept for several days. And Kimihiro was teased by Yuuko for gaining a Zashiki-warashi's affections and by Kagome for being expected to give a White Day present to Zashiki-warashi for a Valentine chocolate he had originally made.

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**What do you think of my**** fifth ****chapter? **Please Read and Review**. I would love to know how good and how bad my fics are. If you want to flame me, at least make it constructive criticism.**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize f****ro****m the **_**xxxHolic**_**, **_**Inuyasha**_**, and **_**Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles**_** aren't mines; they belong to their respective owners. Anything else belongs to me. **Please ask for permission and getting it before taking my things.

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_May fantasy guide your writing through it all - Dementra_


	6. Wings of Decadence

_**Of Dreams and Wishes**_

**Hi! Thanks for wanting to read this fanfic. I hope you like this story.**

**Sorry if this chapter's quality isn't as good as the previous ones. The plot bunnies are dying on me, even though I already have the backbone of this fanfic planned out. I was originally going to expand this into two chapters, but I ended up shortening a few cases and dropping another two all together. **

All my current knowledge regarding _xxxHolic_ manga stem mainly from Wikipedia and some other sites, but I do read some manga chapters for references for certain details the anime doesn't provide. _(I'd most likely read the entire manga later.) _As such, this fanfic would mainly follow _xxxHolic _anime with some addition from the manga.

However, I would be changing the order of the episodes around and wouldn't include all the cases, so don't complain if you find that my fanfic doesn't follow the same chronological order as in the anime and manga.

_Of Dreams and Wishes_ takes place after the _Inuyasha_ series, with changes with its ending and certain details. Also, most of the characters from _Inuyasha_ and _Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles _would not appear as often as the _xxxHolic_ main characters and Kagome.

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**Vocabulary**

Hitsuzen — inevitable, fated

Sengoku Jidai — Feudal Era

Shikon no Tama — Jewel of Four Souls

Shikon no Miko — Priestess of Shikon no Tama; in order words, its guardian

Shikon no kakera — Shikon shards

Kami — god

Hanyou — half demon

Youkai — demon

Daiyoukai — great demon

Taijiya — demon slayer

Nekotama — two-tailed cat

Ame-warashi — rain sprite

Zashiki-warashi — vestal sprite; supposed to bring fortune when staying with a household, but fortune declines when zashiki-warashi leaves

Kitsune — fox

Kitsune bi — foxfire

Kudagitsune — pipe fox sprite

Inu — dog

Ookami — wolf

Miko — priestess, shrine maiden

Miko ki – priestess energy

Reiki — spiritual energy

Youki — demon energy

Jaki — miasma, evil energy

Ofuda — protective wards on parchment / paper wards

Ojii-chan / Jii-chan / Ojii-san / Jii-san / Ojii-sama / Jii-sama — grandfather, in different forms of endearment and respect

Hyakumonogatari — 100 ghost stories

**Chapter 6 Wings of Decadence**

Yuuko-san was very deserving of the title Dimension Witch. Yesterday, she had led them through a pocket dimension all the way to Ginza. Kagome had read many magic books from the storeroom _(unfortunately, she lacked the latent talent to do most of the spells written there)_, so she knew that the energy it had taken Yuuko-san to create and maintain it, however temporary, could've lit a busy city for several days.

They then did a house call _(she didn't even know Yuuko-san did that)_ for a woman who had been neglecting her wife and mother duties in favour of the Internet. Kagome didn't quite understand how someone could become so utterly addicted to the Internet that they would practically forsake their family. To her, there was nothing better than camping out in nature and dealing with the supernatural. And as bloodthirsty as it sounded, she thrived on the adrenaline from death or life situation.

The feeling of reiki and youki swirling all around them, an ever changing dance. The wind rushing past her face and the heartbeat thundering in her ears. The sound of Sango-chan's hiraikotsu whooshing through the air and the splatter of youkai guts which followed. The tinkering of Miroku-sama's staff and the crackling energy from his ofuda when meeting youki. The pops of smoke which preceded Shippou-chan's transformations. The war cries from Inuyasha as he swung his Tessaiga down, unleashing an attack. The thrum of warm miko ki flowing through her veins as she shot an arrow at yet another foe, turning them to dust. But most of all, the knowledge they had once again conquered their enemies _together_ and were one step closer to defeating Naraku.

Hah… It was intoxicating.

The good ol' days.

Then again, she had probably been displacing her affections for her friends to the battles which they all shared heightened by adrenaline. She missed them… She missed them so much…

Being with Yuuko-san, Kimihiro-kun, Doumeki-kun, Himawari-chan, Mokona, Moro-chan, and Maru-chan had lessened the pain but…

There was just something so freeing about Sengoku Jdai where forests and fields of green grass had yet to be replaced by concrete buildings. And, five hundred years ago, there was no one in Japan who didn't believe in youkai, spirits, and kami. She didn't need to hide her abilities there and could talk freely to anyone about the supernatural without being critiqued.

It hurt, knowing that the majority of the world's population didn't believe in the world she knew was true, that her precious friends and their harrowing adventure had become nothing more than a myth.

The old fortune teller had informed her of her second family's death, but the old woman hadn't known exactly who were giving her well-wishes from the afterlife. Afterwards, from the kitsune at the oden stand, she had learnt of Shippou-chan's passing. But Kagome still held hope that at least Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru-sama were still alive.

She wanted to see them. She wanted to know what really happened in her friend's lives after she had left them behind in Sengoku Jdai.

XxXxXxXxX

"Kimihiro-kun…"

"Hm?"

It was one of those rare nights where the two of them would lie on a blanket in the garden, staring up at the starry sky. They were never interrupted by the other occupants of the shop during this time. She knew that Yuuko-san and the rest knew about their outdoor sleepovers, but it was unspoken that it was _their_ time alone — a time for two humans from this era who had been dragged into the supernatural world and needed the company of people who had experienced the same.

This activity had first started during the warmer autumn nights, when Kagome had been longing for Sengoku Jidai, feeling too caged to sleep indoors. Some time later, Kimihiro, who had woken up for a glass of water, had found her and joined her for a night of stargazing. The second time occurred early winter, in which they had sleeping bags and a fire lit nearby. Ever since then, one of them would occasionally lay in the garden, only to be joined by the other. _(Of course, Kimihiro didn't live here in the shop, unlike her, so Kagome had spent most of those nights alone with her thoughts.)_

Tonight, her mind was full of her adventures in Sengoku Jidai. She wanted to tell someone about it — the whole unaltered truth. Kimihiro-kun was like her, in a different way. He would be able to understand why she continued to stay there, despite all the bloodshed and heartbreak, won't he? Mama and jii-chan would've never let her go if she had told them everything. And Souta was too young to hear of the horrors she had faced.

"Remember the story I told you when we were doing hyakumonogatari? The story of Naraku, Kikyou, and Inuyasha?"

"Yeah."

"Let me tell you what happened next."

_The Shikon no Tama travelled with Kikyou's soul and eventually reappeared in this world within a baby less than seventeen years ago. The child grew up in a shrine, with a kind mother, an eccentric grandfather, and an annoying little brother, unaware of the passengers hidden within. Her soul was slowly nurtured by the Shikon no Tama. The jewel changed her, though she wouldn't be aware of it for years to come. Both her parents were pureblooded humans, but being born with the Shikon no Tama made that child more than just a normal human._

_Then, on her fifteenth birthday, her entire world started falling to pieces. _

_She was dragged down the old well at her shrine by a centipede youkai and ended up five hundred years in the past, in Sengoku Jidai. It was also in that time period where the Shikon no Tama was literally ripped from her side, leaving behind an everlasting starburst scar right above her hips. And soon afterwards, the child accidentally shattered the Shikon no Tama, sending numerous Shikon no kakera all across Japan._

_Anywhere the Shikon no kakera landed, trouble would brew and bloodshed was a constant. She knew she had the responsibility to collect all the shards, to correct the terrible mistake she had made._

Kagome then spoke of her second family and allies — Inuyasha,_ the brash inu hanyou_, Shippou-chan,_ the orphaned kitsune kit_, Sango-chan, _taijiya whose clan was destroyed by Naraku's schemes_, Kirara, _her faithful nekotama_, Miroku-sama, _a perverted monk whose linage had been cursed by Naraku since his grandfather_, Kohaku,_ Sango's younger brother who was manipulated by Naraku but eventually broke free of his control_, Kaede-sama, _Kikyou's younger sister_, Myouga-jiji, _a cowardly flea youkai who was a bounty of knowledge regarding ancient youkai_, Totosai, _a great youkai sword smith_, Kouga-kun, _the persistent ookami youkai_, Jinengi, _a kind horse hanyou_…

Of their enemies, who occasionally became an ally of sorts — Kikyou, _whose soul was ripped from the Shikon child by a witch and replaced into a clay body and was forced to steal souls to stay in the world of the living_, Sesshoumaru-sama, _Inuyasha's older half-brother, an inu daiyoukai who really disliked Inuyasha_, Jaken, _his faithful kappa vassal_, Rin, _an orphaned girl Sesshoumaru had saved and who never failed to follow the Lord of the West_, Ah-un, _a two-headed dragon_, Kagura, _an incarnation of Naraku who only desired to be the free wind_, Kanna, _the oldest of Naraku's incarnation who betrayed him at the very end_…

And their enemies who weren't anything but — Naraku, _their greatest foe_, Naraku's many incarnations, _who were frankly enough a pain to defeat_,Kaguya, _a youkai who devoured other youkai and a celestial maiden for power and immortality_, Sou'unga, _a sentient from Hell_, the youkai souls from the Shikon no Tama, and many more.

Kagome left nothing out — not the horrors and pain brought about by human greed and power-hungry youkai, not the heartbreak from Inuyasha and Kikyou's situation _(though she had eventually come to terms with it)_, not her frustration and emotional pain of always being compared to Kikyou _(at least in the beginning, when Inuyasha had been a lot more insensitive and Kikyou had been consumed by anger and the need for vengence)_, not her struggles in juggling her life in both world, not her regrets for being unable to save all those innocent lives. She told him _everything_, everything but how the purified Shikon no Tama had fused with her — she wasn't ready to admit it to anyone but herself, since she still wasn't quite sure of its true effects on her.

"A few months after the Shikon child had been casted away from Sengoku Jidai, she met the Dimension Witch and formed close friendships with several other people. And right now, the Shikon child had just finished telling Watanuki Kimihiro of her history, which had been denounced as mere myth by most of society today."

There was silence. Kimihiro hadn't made a sound since she had first started telling her story. Did he believe her? Please say he believed her. And please, please don't shun her away.

A hand clasped over hers and blue met purple. "You're strong, Kagome-chan. I don't think I could've survived all that."

Her lips widened into a grin and she breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, but I think Kimihiro-kun is really strong too. I don't think I could stand losing my family at such a young age and dealing with spirits on my own."

Since there was no school the next day, they stayed up talking for a few hours more, dozing off as the sun rose over the horizon. But it seemed as though Yuuko-san knew what happened that night. Moro and Maru opened a beach umbrella to shade them from sunlight. And no one bothered them until they woke up on their own.

XxXxXxXxX

"Why did you tell Watanuki your story?" Yuuko asked, blowing out a trail of tobacco smoke.

Kagome smiled, not looking up from the magic book she was reading. "You know why. It's a reason similar to why you're so interested in him. Kimihiro-kun is different from other humans, and I'm not just referring to how delicious his aura is to spirits. I sensed it the moment I met him at this shop."

"Hm… Your sensory abilities are greater than expected, but everything is still hitsuzen."

"I know…"

There was nothing more she could say about that. As much as she hated it, she knew that the best place for dealing with the Shikon no Tama had been in the past. If it had resurfaced in this time, it would've been a complete disaster — World War III with humans on the losing side. Furthermore, even though it had caused a lot of destruction and misery, if Kagome hadn't shattered the jewel, they would've never been strong enough to protect the Shikon and defeat most of their more powerful enemies. Naraku may have even won early won. It was in their journey to collect the shards which they had gathered more power and experience.

Like Yuuko-san often said, everything was hitsuzen, even if she detested it.

Kimihiro-kun would play a large role in maintaining the future. He was the main character now. Kagome, Yuuko-san, Doumeki-kun, and Himawari-chan were just the supporting characters in his story. Even so, she would make sure to protect them all. She couldn't afford another heartbreak of losing her precious friends to hitsuzen.

XxXxXxXxX

"Eh? Really! Something that interesting happened on the one weekend I went back home?"

Higurashi was once again at his family temple to take advantage of the books in the storage room. _(Shizuka had long since learned all the basics Higurashi could teach him. The only thing left now was practice and experimentation to test the limitations of his powers.) _No one really bothered to consult the books there since none of them lived in the other world as his grandfather did. Even Shizuka hadn't until he had discovered his powers during the hyakumonogatari. He still couldn't see lesser spirits _(apparently, Awe-warashi, Zashiki-warashi, and stronger youkai wouldn't be a problem)_, but he had plenty of knowledge from jii-san's stories and the books.

Now, he was telling her of the twins he and Watanuki had met. The elder twin had severe self-esteem issues, all of which were effected by her own self-effecting words and the words her younger sister said. Eventually, Watanuki and Yuuko-san had convinced her to stop putting herself down and letting others put her down. The next time they met again, she had changed from a moody girl with not self-confidence to a more cheerful one.

Then Higurashi sighed, shaking her head. "The poor girl… I know exactly what she went through. I was born was a high resemblance to one of my best friends' ex-girlfriend. Well, actually, their story was a bit more complicated than that. A love rival, Raku, wanted Kiko for himself and had spread some really nasty rumours about their relationship. There was a huge misunderstanding which led to a really bad breakup and Kiko left the town. Yasha still hadn't gotten over Kiko when I came into his life. At the beginning, Yasha couldn't really cope with our physical resemblance and often put me down, to a point where I almost believed him."

Shizuka frowned. He didn't like the thought of his friend going through such emotional pain.

Before he could comment on it, she chuckled, "Yeah, we had a really rocky start to our friendship. It didn't really help that we had a quest of sorts that we had to do together. But it worked out fine in the end. Yasha and Kiko eventually worked out their problems when Kiko returned to town and Yasha didn't compare the two of us anymore."

Even so, Shizuka had the urge to shoot an arrow at this Yasha. He considered Watanuki, Higurashi-san, and Kunogi-san as his friends, and he didn't take kindly to _anyone_ — humans, spirits, or youkai — harming those he considered under his protection.

XxXxXxXxX

Kimihiro squeaked and flailed as a long-length of silky fur snaked around his body, hitting all the spots which were ticklish. To his relief, it settled down around his neck, as a warm furry scarf of sorts.

Walking beside him, Kagome giggled, "Kudagitsune really likes you, doesn't he?" As if proving her words, the tiny sprite (which looked more like a furry snake with a fox's head) pecked him on the cheeks several times. The kudagitsune had been a payment to Yuuko-san for allowing Ame-warashi to use Kagome's service to save the hydrangea bush; and like most supernatural creatures, had instantly been drawn to him. Fortunately, this one wasn't interested in devouring him.

Suddenly, Kagome froze in her steps and Kudagitsune peeked out from his collar; both were staring in the same direction — at three girls a street down.

"Aren't those girls from today's art lesson?" Kimihiro pondered out loud. They were from Class 2 — one was a quieter one, who seemed to be taken advantaged of by her two more sociable friends. Of course, he didn't know their relationship that well, so he didn't really have any rights to make judgements about it.

He blinked. Were those…? "Do you see that? The wings on her back."

Kagome nodded, frowning. "Yes. And I don't like what I'm sensing. It's a kind of parasitic youkai that seemed to be burrowing itself into her soul. I've never seen such youkai before. I don't know what effects it'd have on the girl if I deal with it the wrong way. Sometimes, parasitic youkai could become so entwined with their host that killing the youkai ultimately kills the host as well. We need to ask Yuuko-san more about this as soon as we get back."

Two more social girls stopped at a vending machine and then smiled at the winged girl. "Ah, I'm sorry, but could we borrow some money?" one of them said. "I'll pay you tomorrow."

"Oh, me too!"

"No," the winged girl said firmly, startling her companions. She, then, walked passed them without a backwards glance.

"Doesn't she seem like a completely different person?" one whispered.

The other nodded. "They say the usually quite types are scary when they snap."

"Stop trying to scare me."

As the girls walked away, Kimihiro and Kagome strolled up to the vending machine.

"Changes in personality are commonly seen in hosts of parasitic youkai," his friend said, bending down and picking up a white feather. She scowled, twirling it. "Its aura is heavy in anger and hatred. My miko ki is just _itching_ to purify it from existence."

"Don't do that. We should bring it to Yuuko-san."

She sighed, slipping it into her pocket. "I know."

XxXxXxXxX

It felt disgusting, having the thing so close to her. Her miko ki readily agreed with her, having already risen to the surface; she was barely holding it back from its target. _(On another note, at least her friend wouldn't be plagued by spirits any time during this walk. She bet that her ki could be easily sensed by them due to its agitation.) _The feather was pulsing with so much jaki and hatred that she was surprised Kimihiro-kun had yet to sense it. Then again, as a miko (of sorts), sensing jaki and evil intents came natural to her; all she needed was the training provided in Sengoku Jidai.

"Kagome-chan, show me what's in your pocket," Yuuko ordered as soon as they entered the shop.

She stared at the feather Kagome had taken out. "How did you get it?"

"Kimihiro-kun and I came across a girl infected with a parasitic youkai. I would've purified it, but it seems to be burrowing into her soul. I didn't want to risk harming the girl. Do you know what it is, Yuuko-san?"

The feather suddenly burst into flames by Yuuko's magic, not harming her hands at all. Kagome wasn't worried at all, but Kimihiro fretted on her behalf, scolding their employer for doing such dangerous things.

"You won't be able to save that girl, Kagome-chan."

The miko frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"It's a parasite who could only enter humans possessing certain qualities. That girl's soul welcomed it in. If you don't want to purify her soul along with the youkai, you'd have to wait until it frees itself from her soul. But, either way, she won't be the same again. Do be careful not to become bait if you plan on observing her."

Kagome clenched her fists. She didn't like the thought of being unable to save someone being harmed right before her eyes. Kimihiro's scowl told her he felt the same.

XxXxXxXxX

"I saw that girl again at lunch today," Kimihiro announced, walking through the front door.

Kagome didn't even bother to glance up from her book. "Okaeri, Kimihiro-kun. Did you see anything different about her?" She had skipped school under the pretence of being sick in favour of doing more research on the parasitic youkai, while he was tasked with the job of finding the girl.

He nodded, placing down his schoolbag. "I'm not really sure, but I think her wings had gotten bigger."

Gesturing for him to sit beside her, she flipped through the book until she found a certain page. "See. Here. That youkai is simply known as Wings. It grows by preying on a person's anger. As such, little by little, their host loses their control over their emotions, which in turns feeds the parasite. But, like Yuuko-san told us, only people with certain characteristics could become their hosts — those people had to have the desire to lose control, or else the parasite wouldn't be able to take root. Most of those people tend to be the quiet and calm ones, but that's why people have come to say that quite people are scary when they snap."

He frowned. "Then, that girl…"

"Yeah, a part of her welcomed in Wings." Her head dropped. "Yuuko-san was right; I won't be able to purify the youkai without purifying a part of her soul, no matter how careful I am. The only way to save her is to wait until Wings had consumed all of her anger and leave. Still, losing even one emotion would destabilize the soul and throw the body off balance, so the girl would still have problems afterwards. Luckily, she would recover over time when she relearns the feeling of anger, but nothing would ever be the same for her again."

Kimihiro knew that Kagome, unfortunately, had her soul messed around with in Sengoku Jidai, and her thoughts were probably spiralling down into her memories. Wanting to distract her, he asked, "There's a festival at one of the local shrine tonight. Do you want to come to with me? Doumeki and Himawari-chan is coming too. I'm also planning to ask Yuuko-san, Moro and Maru."

She blinked up at him. "Oh. Didn't you know? Yuuko-san and Mokona had something to do, so they left already. And Moro and Maru don't have souls. They'd die if they leave the shop's barrier."

"Oh…" He didn't know that. But it explained a lot about the two girls. He had always wondered why they stayed at the shop and worked under Yuuko-san. "Um… So, are you going to come to the festival?"

"I'd love to!" she beamed.

XxXxXxXxX

It had been some time since she had participated in a shrine festival she didn't host. The Higurashi Shrine festival usually included the tales of the Shikon no Tama, which her family and some friends (depending on the story) would sometimes re-enact. Naturally, since they were a comparatively small shrine, their festival usually didn't have that many games.

"Hey, let's do this," Doumeki called out, waving a paper scoop.

Kimihiro pointed at him and yelled, "What are you doing, deciding these things by yourself?" He had been rather quiet earlier, probably lost in his thoughts about his issues with the exorcist.

"I want to do it too," Himawari announced, already kneeling by the box of goldfish.

And her friend quickly changed his tune. "T-That's right. A festival just can't begin without scooping up some goldfish. I've been itching to put my skills to use for a while now." He flexed his hand and mimicked a scooping motion. "Take a look at this enthusiastic right hand."

Kagome stifled her laughter. While Kimihiro had ceased his over-the-top antics when it came to Himawari-chan, the girl was still capable of calming him down. That boy still hadn't realized how he had been manipulated by her during his angry rants.

"Whoever catches the least goldfish in ten minutes have to treat the rest to lunch tomorrow!" she called, readying her scoop. "And whoever catches the most gets to decide what we're eating."

Kimihiro hurried over, pushing back the sleeves of his yukata. "You're on!"

The four of them continued playing at the various game stalls until Himawari left to talk to her other friends and Doumeki was accosted by some members of the archery club. So, Kimihiro and Kagome decided to get some food instead.

"You're the one that hit it."

It was that girl, the host for Wings. She was currently glaring at a boy, with a rifle from a shooting game stall in hand.

"Now, Mie…" one of her friends said, trying to calm her down.

"And I apologized, didn't I?" the boy shot back.

She growled. "For that?"

"Stop this," her friends pleaded, tugging at her yukata sleeve.

"Yeah, let's go."

The winged girl shook them off. "No. I want a proper apology."

"Stubborn little…" he snarled. "Aren't you being a bit ridiculous?"

That was the final straw, and she raised the rifle up and quickly brought it down onto the boy's head, causing him to fall, clutching at his injury.

"You're the ridiculous one," she said, not even showing an ounce of remorse on her face.

When they saw the guards coming over, her friends quickly grabbed her and ran away.

"Her wings are growing larger," Kimihiro whispered, not taking his eyes off of the trio. When they had first seen her wings, it barely covered a third of her back; but it was now big enough for its tips to reach past her knees. "I'm going after her," he said, breaking into a run.

Kimihiro really didn't get A's in physical education for nothing. He was fast, even faster than her _(though, to be fair, she _had_ spent more time on Inuyasha's back then running when danger was involved)_. Regardless, they soon arrived at a more isolated part of the shrine.

"You were glaring at me earlier," the winged girl said, walking up to them, her lips tugged into a scowl.

He blinked. "Huh?"

"You were, weren't you?"

"I wasn't glaring."

"But I thought that I was being glared at. So apologize," she demanded.

Kimihiro tried to pacify her. "If I made you think so, I'm sorry, but…" He glanced downwards. "I really wasn't glaring or anything."

"Whatever!" she snarled. "Just hurry and apologize!"

Kagome snorted. "Didn't you hear him? He _did_ apologize." Influenced by a parasite youkai or not, she wasn't about to let her friend take the brunt of the girl's anger. "Even though there wasn't any need for him to do so."

"Apologize! Apologize!" Then, without warning, the girl leaped forward, swinging a knife at Kimihiro, who quickly dodged out of the way. Her wings grew bigger with every swing.

Kagome still stood several meters away, with miko ki-charged hairsticks in hand. The girl wasn't coherent, and her swings were wide and slow. Kimihiro-kun shouldn't have any problems with avoiding the blows. She was currently waiting for the moment Wings leave the girl. It shouldn't take too long now.

That was, until Kimihiro tripped backwards and landed onto the ground. The knife flew straight, heading for the stunned teenager.

Heartbeat thundered in her ears, and hairsticks fell from slackened hands. _Stop. Stopstopstop _"Stop it!" Kagome yelled, dashing over, hoping against all odds she'd be able to reach her friend in time. Her energy rose, pink swirling in her purple eyes. To her uttermost relief, the knife, shimmering pink, paused in midair, hovering centimetres above widened blue eyes. Kagome roughly kicked the girl away and grabbed the knife, flinging it away.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. " she chanted, patting his body frantically, hands still glowing with miko ki. She should've directed the girl's anger towards herself. She should've dealt with her instead of letting Kimihiro be the main fighter (as Inuyasha would've been). She should've…

He patted her head. "I'm alright, Kagome-chan, I'm alright. There's no need to worry."

Molten pink-purple eyes stared at his calm blue ones; and she nodded, slumping against him. "Thank goodness…"

Hands shook her shoulders. "Hey, Kagome-chan, look…"

Kagome turned around, just in time to see the girl hovering in midair due to the flapping wings. The parasite youkai dislodged itself from her back, revealing six short tentacles. With a screech, it dove towards them. She glanced around. _Shit. _The hairsticks were still lying on the ground where she had dropped them earlier and the knife had already been flung away. But she probably could concentrate long enough to emit a small burst of energy. It wouldn't be enough to kill it, but it should be enough to ward away long enough for her to grab the knife.

Fortunately, as it turned out, she didn't need to do anything. Kudagitsune shot out from beneath Kimihiro's yukata, transforming into a much larger nine-tailed kitsune. He fired a fireball from its mouth at the fleeing Wings, slowing it down. The kudagitsune pounced on the parasite youkai, tearing its burning body to pieces.

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**What do you think of my**** sixth ****chapter? **Please Read and Review**. I would love to know how good and how bad my fics are. If you want to flame me, at least make it constructive criticism.**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize f****ro****m the **_**xxxHolic**_**, **_**Inuyasha**_**, and **_**Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles**_** aren't mines; they belong to their respective owners. Anything else belongs to me. **Please ask for permission and getting it before taking my things.

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_May fantasy guide your writing through it all - Dementra_


	7. Effects of Time

_**Of Dreams and Wishes**_

**Hi! Thanks for wanting to read this fanfic. I hope you like this story.**

All my current knowledge regarding _xxxHolic_ manga stem mainly from Wikipedia and some other sites, but I do read some manga chapters for references for certain details the anime doesn't provide. _(I'd most likely read the entire manga later.) _As such, this fanfic would mainly follow _xxxHolic _anime with some addition from the manga.

However, I would be changing the order of the episodes around and wouldn't include all the cases, so don't complain if you find that my fanfic doesn't follow the same chronological order as in the anime and manga.

_Of Dreams and Wishes_ takes place after the _Inuyasha_ series, with changes with its ending and certain details. Also, most of the characters from _Inuyasha_ and _Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles _would not appear as often as the _xxxHolic_ main characters and Kagome.

**I've recently read more; and I find that the whole mess with Kimihiro, Li Syaoran, Li Sakura, Li Tsubasa, and Princess Tsubasa is just way too complicated to put into **_**Of Dreams and Wishes**_** in detail. So, I'm going to heavily gloss over it, and would only be adding the bare necessities where able.**

**And I was planning on doing a fun interlude for chapter 7 (it's a bit of a guessing game, but it's still related to _xxxHolic_) but I've decided to work on the actual story and save the interlude for later.**

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

**Vocabulary**

Hitsuzen — inevitable, fated

Sengoku Jidai — Feudal Era

Shikon no Tama — Jewel of Four Souls

Youki — demon energy

Miko ki – priestess energy

Miko — priestess, shrine maiden

Reiki — spirit energy

Hanyou — half demon

Youkai — demon

Daiyoukai — great demon

Taijiya — demon slayer

Hiraikotsu — Sango's demon bone boomerang

Houshi — monk

Nekotama — two-tailed cat

Kitsune — fox

Kitsune bi — foxfire

Kudagitsune — pipe fox sprite

Inu — dog

Ookami — wolf

Ame-warashi — rain sprite

Zashiki-warashi — vestal sprite; supposed to bring fortune when staying with a household, but fortune declines when zashiki-warashi leaves

Hotaru — firefly

Karasu tengu — crow-billed goblin

Tengu — goblin

Reizan — Spirit Mountain

Kochuuten — literally "vase middle heaven"

Oji-chan / Ji-chan / Oji-san / Ji-san / Oji-sama / Ji-sama — uncle or older male, in different forms of endearment and respect

Ojii-chan / Jii-chan / Ojii-san / Jii-san / Ojii-sama / Jii-sama — grandfather, in different forms of endearment and respect

Furisode — a very formal type of kimono

Tadaima — I'm back

Okaeri nasai / Okaeri — Welcome back

**Chapter 7 Effects of Time**

Kagome laughed, as Kimihiro was, once again, pounced on by an eager kudagitsune, who seemed to have forgotten he wasn't as tiny as he used to, sending her friend facedown on the floor. "You're well-liked, aren't you?

"Extremely well-liked!" Moro chimed.

"Complicatedly well-liked!" Maru chorused.

"I'd like him a lot better if he stops doing things like this," Kimihiro grunted, pushing himself up, against the heavy weight clinging onto his back.

It had been several days since the incident with Wings and kudagitsune had yet to return to his smaller form. _That_, however, didn't discourage him to stick as close to Kimihiro as possible, and generally disrupting his work, much to the teen's chagrin. (They had _barely_ managed to dissuade the sprite from following him to school. Since kudagitsune could generally be seen by everyone, it would've been a really interesting tale to tell to the authorities — they would've most likely been accosted by the police before even arriving at school.)

"Hey, Kimihiro-kun, what are you planning to give to Zashiki-warashi?"

He blinked. "Huh?"

"For White Day," Kagome elaborated, hanging up the laundry. "She gave you a Valentine's chocolate, remember?"

The sheet in his hand dropped back into the basket as he shook a fist at her. "She _did not_! She stole the fondant au chocolat from Doumeki's stomach, a chocolate which _I_ had made, might I add."

She waved it off. "Well, it's the thought that counts. Besides, didn't you tell me that Ame-warashi was fond of Zashiki-warashi? Do you _want_ her to come knocking at your head with her umbrella when she finds out you haven't given her friend a White Day present?" His face paled and her smile widened. It could be really fun teasing him. "And Zashiki-warashi might be so sad that she might even cry. Do you want the overprotective karasu tengu after your head as well?"

"Arg!" Kimihiro cried, pulling at his short locks. "Fine! I'll give her a White Day present! March fourteen is only two days away. I should be able to find a present for her by then."

XxXxXxXxX

On White Day, Kimihiro and kudagitsune had gone to the mountain where most of the peaceful sprites in Japan lived — one, to allow kudagitsune to absorb enough pure energy to transform back into his smaller form, and two, to visit Zashiki-warashi and give her a White Day present _(Kagome had an inking suspicious that the present was an accessory of some sort as they had stopped by a girl-oriented shop after school due to Himawari)_.

According to Yuuko-san, Kimihiro probably wouldn't be coming back for a while _(fortunately, it was Friday when he had left)_ since the time within the daffodil vase flowed differently from the world outside — what may seem to be minutes in the other dimension could actually be hours, depending on the certain conditions. Plus, he also needed to travel to the mountain and back through that world.

In other words, until their return, Kagome was now the main errand girl for the shop.

That was why she was out grocery shopping at the moment.

She was about to leave the shopping district when a powerful, and _very_ familiar, aura brushed her senses. Her breath hitched, eyes glistening with tears. _Could it really be? Sesshoumaru-sama!_

Kagome dashed across the streets, ignoring the angry compliments when she accidently bumped into someone, tracing the energy she hadn't felt for nearly a year. She wasn't going to let it stray from her senses no matter what.

Eventually, she arrived at a meadow within a small forest, and standing in the middle was the great Lord of the West himself, looking almost exactly as he did five hundred years ago — regal, distant, and justifiably arrogant.

"Sesshoumaru-sama…" she breathed out. _He's here. He's really here!_ She was finally meeting a person who shared her experiences in Sengoku Jidai. _I'm not alone anymore…_

"Miko," he greeted back, voice as monotonous as ever.

XxXxXxXxX

Kudagitsune glowed bright yellow, forcing Kimihiro to shield his eyes from the glare. When the light finally died down minutes later, kudagitsune had shrunk back into his smaller, snake-like form. The sprite darted towards him, wrapped around his neck like a scarf, and pecked his cheek several times.

Meanwhile, Kimihiro glanced around at their surroundings. "This must be the place of pure energy Yuuko-san was talking about." The sky was bright, though cloudy, above them, but he was certain that he had been evening with a clear sky when they had been sucked into the strange vase. Just where was he? Other than the pond they had swum out from, there was nothing except for butterflies, green grass and daffodils for miles. Not to mention, a few of those flowers were about two-stories tall. Was another world or something?

Still, they had accomplished what they had come for, but…

"How am I supposed to go home?" Kimihiro cried out.

XxXxXxXxX

Kagome bit her lips. "I… You… They… How was everyone after I left?"

"Your kitsune kit graduated from the kitsune school within record time. Candidate seventy-seven has actually become a legend in the kitsune world. After running wild across Japan, he eventually settled down with a female kitsune and had four kits — one male and three females. Then, knowing your favourite food is oden, he ran a kitsune oden store until his death several years ago. This Sesshoumaru believe you have met two of his descendents before."

She nodded, throat tight, and suddenly feeling her arms were empty without Shipou-chan to hug.

"The undead miko reincarnated approximately a hundred years after her second death. This time, as a simple village girl. Inuyasha mated to her several months after coming across her. They had two sons and one daughter. And the inu youkai blood continued to be diluted since every one of their descendents had married humans. Inuyasha had died of old age about two hundred years ago." Then, Sesshomaru smirked, instantly putting Kagome on edge. The inu daiyoukai_ she_ knew never smirked unless blood and guts were spilled. "This one's brother had taken on the name Higurashi to honour you. So, he was actually one of your ancestors. And considering his line eventually mixed with that of the taijiya and houshi…"

Kagome laughed. Part of second family _was_ actually her other family. The irony. Her brothers and sister turned out to be her great (times something) grandfather and grandmother. This also provided a better reason why she looked like Kikyou. If she was related to Kikyou's true reincarnation, then it wouldn't have been a surprise that she had taken on some of her physical traits. "Should I call you Sesshoumaru-oji-sama, then?"

He scowled. "No. This Sesshoumaru does _not_ need any reminders whom he had the misfortune to be related to, no matter how distantly."

"Kay, kay. Then about the others? Sango-chan, Miroku-sama, Kirara, Kohaku-kun, Rin-chan, Kouga-kun, Jaken, Ah-Uh—"

"The taijiya and houshi married," Sesshoumaru cut in. "They had twin daughters and three sons. As mentioned, some of their descendents eventually married some of Inuyasha's descendent. The houshi's great-granddaughter married into the Li Clan from Hong Kong. They were a clan of great sorcerers. You have already befriended one of their descendents. But something is strange about that particular family. This one believes that trouble is brewing. " He scowled. "Rin had many suitors. All of which this one had chased away. The only one who had met this Sesshoumaru's barest approval was the taijiya's brother. Their line was strong and often mingled with those of holy powers. You also know one of their descendents. That exorcist."

Kagome's eyes widened. Hitsuzen… There was no other way to describe be. What else would lead her back to her friends, no matter how distantly related?

"The nekotama passed four hundred years ago, soon following her masters. She had been Midoriko's companion and had stayed with the taijiya for over seven hundred years. The Eastern ookami princling mated with the Northern ookami princess and had enough pups to restore his fallen clan within a few generations. Jaken had passed away of old age three hundred years ago. Ah-Uh followed several years later. The only reason they had even survived for so long was their constant exposure to this one's youki. For youkai, the greater their youki, the longer their natural lifespan. If Inuyasha had been a pureblood youkai, he would have undoubtedly lived to see you again."

Her face fell and she sniffled. "So… you mean…"

"Yes, you and this Sesshoumaru are the only ones left alive from those who had battled Naraku. This one had been requested by them to present their gifts to you," he said, gesturing over to the large trunk laid beside him. "The taijiya's hiraikotsu, the houshi's staff, Inuyasha's firerat coat, the kitsune kit's crayon drawings, Rin's pressed flowers, and the bow you had received from Azuma Mountain. They said they do not wish for you to grieve over your loss. Instead, you should look back on the happy moments you have shared with them and smile. Inuyasha said that your smile was what kept them going during their times of despair."

Kagome quickly wiped away her tears and pulled her lips into a wobbly smile. "Un… Okay…"

"Alright, then this one's task has been completed."

She lunged forward, grabbing a hold of his sleeve just as he was about to gather youki to fly away. "Wait! Don't go, Sesshoumaru-sama! Please! Stay for a while longer. _Please_." Kagome breathe a sigh of relief when his youki abated.

XxXxXxXxX

He really wanted to go home now. Just where in the world was he? Daffodils did _not_ normally change size, move and talk. His only comfort was that he had kudagitsune with him, and he knew from experience what a powerful protector the sprite could be.

Kimihiro continued running along the path the flowers had chased him into, barely noticing the changes in scenery. Day had once again fallen to night, and the number of daffodils had dwindled, replaced by trees instead.

"That freaked me out when they got big all of a sudden," he panted. He didn't know how long he ran, but as long as it had gotten him away from those frightening flowers, he didn't care.

Just then, a very familiar blue hotaru flew into sight. Wasn't that…? And the sound of a flute reached his ears. "How beautiful…" he breathed out, following the sound out of the forest.

Kimihiro soon reached a pond with Zashiki-warashi, dressed in a pink furisode, seated upon a rock formation, playing the instrument, surrounded by her hotaru. He brushed against a bush, startling her with the rustle of leaves. Upon seeing him, her face reddened and her hands flailed so much that she lost her balance and tumbled down into the pond below.

He quickly dashed over. "Are you alright?"

Zashiki-warashi brushed away her wet locks. "Y-yes, um… what are you doing on this mountain?"

Blinking, he glanced around. "Huh? This is a mountain?"

XxXxXxXxX

The two of them sat in a comfortable silence for a moment, before she wound up the courage to ask what was bothering her ever since the last battle — "Sesshoumaru-sama, do you know what I am?"

For the first time since she had met him, the daiyoukai actually seemed confused. "Elaborate, miko."

She licked her lips. "You know what happened when I got sucked into meidou, right? I faced the collective souls in the Shikon no Tama and made my wish. I wish for the Shikon no Tama to disappear forever."

"Yes, we all know that."

Her eyes darted around the park, looking at everywhere except for the Western Lord. "I… It… I… Um… The Shikon no Tama is still here, in a sense."

Golden eyes narrowed. "Explain," he demanded, back straightening even more so than before. His youki was just itching to kill something.

Kagome gulped. _This_ was the daiyoukai many feared. "When I made my wish, all the souls within the Shikon no Tama had been completely purified, leaving behind an empty shell of immense power." Her hand rested on the hips where her starburst scar was located at. "I was born with the jewel. And what's left returned back inside of me. Afterwards, I've gotten a slight power boost and my sensory abilities became a lot sharper. I could see all sorts of spirits now and I could also sense faint traces of energy. It wasn't a power I had before. And… And I have a feeling that the Shikon had affected me more than just that."

XxXxXxXxX

"What you came through was the Kochuuten," Zashiki-warashi explained after hearing his story. They had wrung as much of the pond water as they could from her kimono before retreating to another rock formation at a meadow. "It's another world inside a vase pregnant with spiritual energy. If you came through a place full of blooming daffodils, then it was the daffodil vase. It's a world of nymphs who are the very embodiment of daffodils."

Ah… so _that_ was why those flowers were so weird. Either way, he definitely wouldn't be going near that vase, when it was filled with water, ever again.

"I don't really get it," Kimihiro replied, ignoring the kisses kudagitsune was giving him. "But does that mean this place is part of that Kochuuten?"

She shook her head. "No. This is the mountain where we live. A place called Reizan. Places full of energy are connected by roads of energy. There are daffodils blooming on this mountain so it's easy for the road to connect here."

Zashiki-warashi, then, apologized for accidentally stealing Doumeki's soul a month ago, and Kimihiro was quick to assure her that everything was alright now.

"Ah. Um… D-do you have any business on this mountain?" she asked, reminding him of the item in his pocket. "If so… I… I'd like to help…"

Kimihiro took out small white packet. "Here." His face flushed and he looked away. "Well… um… You gave me a Valentine chocolate, didn't you?" Even though _he_ was the one who had made it in the first place. "So… um… Thank you. This is a White Day gift… for you." He had made alcohol-filled chocolates for Yuuko, Moro, Maru, and Mokona _(and they hadn't even given him a Valentine's gift!) _while Kagome had gotten an elaborately decorated hairstick _(which the miko had worn for the entire day, along with her handmade weapon-hairsticks). _

Her face reddened and her slender fingers gingerly reached out to take the offered item. "This is for me?" She carefully opened the wrapping paper to find a pair of hairclips decorated by white wings. "I love it," she said, holding it close to her chest.

"I'm glad." Kimihiro really was. He originally thought of making her some food, but he didn't know when he'd be able to meet her again. So, when Himawari-chan led them to a girl-orientated store, he had taken the chance to buy something for the prite.

She smiled at him, tears glistening in her eyes, making his face grow even warmer.

"Ahh!" several male voices shouted from above. Kimihiro looked up — it was the five overprotective karasu tengu. "You made her cry again!" one of them growled, readying his paper fan.

He glanced at Zashiki-warashi and flailed his arms. "No… Th-this is—"

"We won't let you get away with it this time! Take your punishment!"

XxXxXxXxX

Kagome looked up and found a bird flying above them. Reaching her hand towards it, she concentrated on an energy different but similar to her miko ki whirling within her and let it encircle the area around her target. Within seconds, the bird had paused in midflight within a barely visible pink barrier.

"Last week, a knife was thrown at my fallen friend and I was too far away to defend him. I just wanted the knife to stop. My power rose, and my wish came true. The knife stopped in midair like that bird."

She released the barrier and the bird flew away, not noticing anything was wrong.

"Ever since then, I had been experimenting with my powers. I've found that I could control time within my barriers. I could slow it down and I could speed it up. The latter takes more energy and concentration to do. As I've become more and more in tune with time, I've also discovered that time flows differently for me than it does for the others. It's like a bit of the well's magic had stuck with me. Times flows faster around me, but slower within."

Kagome stared down at her hands. "Back in Sengoku Jidai, we met a youkai-devouring youkai who went by the name Kaguya. She ate a celestial maiden for her immortality, and she wanted to eat me because of my immunity to time and my ability to create time barriers. I didn't pay much attention to her words back then, but now…" She clenched her fists, miko ki rising to the surface. "Being immune to time implies being exempt from aging, and consequently, death. Humans aren't _supposed_ to be immune to aging. What did the Shikon no Tama do to me? What am I?"

Sesshoumaru huffed, as if it was a matter not even worth stressing over. "Does it matter, miko? Back then, were you not the one always proclaiming that you are just Kagome and nothing else? You are what you are. You are Kagome. This one does not see how it matters for you to know any differently."

Her body relaxed and her lips tugged into a smile. _(Who know the iceblock daiyoukai would one day be giving her advice and relieving her of her emotional dilemma?)_ "Yeah, you're right. I'm Kagome. Always have been, always will be. That won't change at all, no matter what happens to me."

Back at Sengoku Jidai, many had seen her for less than just plain ol' Kagome — Kikyou's reincarnation, Kikyou's copy, a shard detector, a weak human, a whore _(due to her state of dress — really, it wasn't_ her_ fault it was her school uniform)_, an annoyance, a strange woman-child. Not many thought her as a threat. In a way, she had been flattered to know that Magatsuhi, the collective evil spirits of the Shikon no Tama, feared her powers so much that he had sealed her true powers away from the very beginning. No one, not even Naraku, had been wary of her the first time they met.

XxXxXxXxX

After a short chase around the forest and gaining several bumps on his head due to their surprisingly hard paper fans, the karasu tengu was stopped by Ame-warashi.

"You five!" she shouted, pointing her umbrella at them. "How dare you ignore what Zashiki-warashi tell you and do as you please!"

"But that guy made her cry again," the karasu tengu leader whined, gesturing at Kimihiro. "Made her cry again," the other four echoed. "He made her sad!"

"No. I was happy. See?" Zashi-warashi spoke up, holding out the hairclips for all to see.

Ame-warashi narrowed her eyes at it. "What's this?"

"It's a White Day girl for the chocolate," Kimihiro replied.

"Oh? Cheapshake," she sneered. Nevertheless, Ame-warashi took the hairclips out of their plastic packaging and clipped them onto Zashiki-warashi's hair. She smiled, "But that's okay. They look good on you."

Just then a thought occurred to him. They weren't humans, so would they have some knowledge of what happened to Kagome's friends from Sengoku Jidai. It was obvious she was missing them a lot — faraway gazes, sentences that stopped short when she came close to re-enacting a scene from her past, the tears that sometimes trailed down her cheeks when she was doing archery at Yuuko-san's shop.

"Umm… Do any of you recognize these youkai? Inuyasha, Shippou, Kouga, and Sesshoumaru?" There were others, but all the humans would be dead by now and he couldn't remember the names of her other youkai allies right at this moment.

The seven of them froze and stared at him.

"Where… did you hear those names?" Ame-warashi asked slowly.

Kimihiro rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly nervous about their scrutinizing. "Um… Remember Kagome-chan? She works with Yuuko-san as well. Um… She knew them, from a very long time ago, and hasn't seen them since."

"That's impossible," the sprite scoffed. "I don't know about the rest, but there have no way that frozen ice block Sesshoumaru would _ever_ be friends with a human, much less a miko. While I'll admit he's a fair and powerful ruler, his ego's too big for him to even bother with lesser youkai. What makes you think he'd be willing to befriend a _human_ of all things?"

Then Ame-warashi continued ranting all the reasons Sesshoumaru would never interact with a human and all the reasons for Kimihiro and Kagome to not bother looking for the daiyoukai.

XxXxXxXxX

"But I'm still scared." She paused for a few minutes to gather her thoughts before continuing on, "Humans grow up expecting death from old age, even if they tend to ignore the fact and wish for immortality. But if I'm really immune to time, then I have millenniums ahead of me. I'm scared of facing near eternity. I'm scared of knowing everyone around me would eventually age and grow old while there's a big chance I'd still look like the way I do now. I could already imagine the loneliness and grief I would undoubtedly feel."

After all, she was already feeling a portion of it. Before Sesshoumaru-sama had arrived, she had been drowning in the loneliness of being the only one around who had been involved with the Shikon no Tama, barely hanging on the thread of hope that at least one of her youkai friends had survived to meet her again. She grieved for the friends she would never see in person again, but had taken happiness by knowing that their story wasn't completely lost in this world — in the form of myths and her memories — and that she still had people — mama, jii-chan, Souta, Kimihiro-kun, and perhaps, Yuuko-san — who was aware of her adventures.

But now… If she was immune to time, she would be watching her family and friends grow old and die, leaving her — a human who was more than human — behind. She didn't think she could handle it, watching everything and everyone changing around her while she remained the same on the outside. Tears were already threatening to fall at the thought.

And she wouldn't even be able to influence their aging, even with her time barriers. So far, she was only capable of encircling objects/creatures as large as a raven. But, even if she could affect an entire human, she wouldn't be able to keep it up for long; and they would _have_ to stay within — trapped without true freedom, a caged bird. It wasn't a fate she would wish on anyone.

Kagome looked up at him, imploringly. At this moment, he was the one with all the answers. "How do you do it, Sesshoumaru-sama? How could you stand watching Rin-chan and Inuyasha and the rest dying before you?"

There was a long silence before he finally answered her — golden eyes glazed with memories of the past. "The only humans this Sesshoumaru had really interacted with were Rin, her husband, their children, the taijiya, the houshi, the old miko, Inuyasha's mate, and you. Humans are weak and short-lived. Nevertheless, humans, as this one hates to admit it, are greatly influencing the world around us. But this one has no intention of growing close to them. This Sesshoumaru would watch from afar, with the other youkai, and only interfere if necessary. Youkai and sprites may age, but they do so much more slowly. However, if you do not wish to live amogst youkai, there is a place called Reizan is occupied mainly by sprites and is full of reiki. Either way, you would not find it difficult to live in our world."

She stifled a chuckle. He didn't really answer her questions at all, merely touching on them and then step-siding it. But there was no doubt that he still greatly missed his wards. Still, he had made a good point.

"Yeah, maybe…" she breathed out, staring up at the sky. "But not now, not while my beloved family and precious friends are still amongst the living."

XxXxXxXxX

Kimihiro stared down at the pond and then glanced back at Zashiki-warashi, who said, "You sould be able to go home from here. Please take care."

He smiled. "I will. Thanks for everything."

"You too."

"See you again."

"Ye," she replied, smiling with tears in her eyes.

Cue the war cries from her bodyguards. Kimihiro gasped, pinched his nose close, and cannonball-ed into the water. When he swam up from its depth, he found himself in the well behind Yuuko's shop.

"Ah! Okaeri nasai, Kimihiro-kun, kudagitsune!" Kagome greeted.

"Tadaima," he groaned, still faced down on the ground after climbing out.

"You look like Sadako, Watanuki," Yuuko teased, earning herself an angry retort from him. She walked over to the well. "Since we put well water into the vase, you came back through the well, huh?" Then she sashayed away. "Watanuki, dinner!"

"Dinner, dinner," Mokona chorused.

Kagome helped him up and they walked back into the shop together. "How was your trip?"

"It was fine. I met Zashiki-warashi and gave her the present." Kimihiro wasn't quite sure how to convey Ame-warashi's apparent dislike for Sesshoumaru. "How about you?"

She smiled a smile which suggested a heavy weight had been lifted off her shoulders. "I met an old friend and he helped me with some of my problems. So, I'm perfectly fine now."

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

**What do you think of my**** seventh ****chapter? **Please Read and Review**. I would love to know how good and how bad my fics are. If you want to flame me, at least make it constructive criticism.**

I know that this fanfic has many readers (over hundreds). Could you please give me a review to tell me what you think of this story?

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize f****ro****m the **_**xxxHolic**_**, **_**Inuyasha**_**, and **_**Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles**_** aren't mines; they belong to their respective owners. Anything else belongs to me. **Please ask for permission and getting it before taking my things.

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_May fantasy guide your writing through it all - Dementra_


	8. Price of Love

_**Of Dreams and Wishes**_

**Wow! This is a whole new record. I've never continuously updated a single fanfic so fast before.**

**Thanks for wanting to read this fanfic. I hope you like this story.**

All my current knowledge regarding _xxxHolic_ manga stem mainly from Wikipedia and some other sites, but I do read some manga chapters for references for certain details the anime doesn't provide. _(I'd most likely read the entire manga later.) _As such, this fanfic would mainly follow _xxxHolic _anime with some addition from the manga.

However, I would be changing the order of the episodes around and wouldn't include all the cases, so don't complain if you find that my fanfic doesn't follow the same chronological order as in the anime and manga.

_Of Dreams and Wishes_ takes place after the _Inuyasha_ series, with changes with its ending and certain details. Also, most of the characters from _Inuyasha_ and _Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles _would not appear as often as the _xxxHolic_ main characters and Kagome.

I find that the whole mess with Kimihiro, Li Syaoran, Li Sakura, Li Tsubasa, and Princess Tsubasa is just way too complicated to put into _Of Dreams and Wishes_ in detail. So, I'm going to heavily gloss over it, and would only be adding the bare necessities where able.

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

**Vocabulary**

Hitsuzen — inevitable, fated

Sengoku Jidai — Feudal Era

Shikon no Tama — Jewel of Four Souls

Shikon no Miko — Priestess of Shikon no Tama; in order words, its guardian

Miko — priestess, shrine maiden

Youkai — demon

Daiyoukai — great demon

Miko ki – priestess energy

Youki — demon energy

Jaki — miasma, evil energy

Zashiki-warashi — vestal sprite; supposed to bring fortune when staying with a household, but fortune declines when zashiki-warashi leaves

Hotaru — firefly

Karasu tengu — crow-billed goblin

Tengu — goblin

Kitsune — fox

Kitsune bi — foxfire

Kudagitsune — pipe fox sprite

Inu — dog

Ookami — wolf

Hiraikotsu — Sango's large demon-bone boomerang

Hyakki yakou — monster procession; night parade of one hundred demons

Ojii-chan / Jii-chan / Ojii-san / Jii-san / Ojii-sama / Jii-sama — grandfather, in different forms of endearment and respect

Onee-chan / Nee-chan / Onee-san / Nee-san / Onee-sama / Nee-sama — big sister, or a girl who is older, in different forms of endearment and respect

**Chapter 8 Price of Love**

Kagome flipped through the album of carefully preserved crayon drawings — the papers were yellow with age and the colours had faded, but considering they were over five hundred years old, they were very well kept, showing just how much Shippou-chan treasured them.

Here was the story of a wolf and dog fighting over a cat which Shippou-chan had used to not-so-subtly tell Kaede-sama and the villagers about her meeting with Kouga-kun and Inuyasha's irritation with the ookami youkai.

There were Sango-chan's various responses to Miroku-sama's groping — slapping, hitting his abnormally hard head with hiraikotsu, threatening to chop off his hands with her knife, sticking a youkai on him, and groping him back _(Kagome had _never_ thought she would see the day)_.

And here was Shippou's story of how _he_ had singlehandedly defeated Narakuwith kitsune bi, making the girls cheer and the guys cry in the background. There was also a more accurate version of the final battle where _all_ of them had joined forces.

Snapshots of their adventures… Sango and Miroku's wedding… their beautiful children… A grown-up Rin and Kohaku… their wedding and kids… Inuyasha's attempts at wooing Kikyou's true reincarnation… Inuyasha's wedding… their children with the cute little puppy ears… a portrait of Sesshoumaru, Rin, Jaken, and Ah-Un together… Shippou's mate… their cute kitsune kits… other memorial drawings for Kikyou, Kaede, Souten, Shiori, Jinengi, Kagura, Kanna, and many more…

Tears fell onto the plastic the drawings were covered with and her body heaved with sobs.

_So many years I've missed out… I miss them… I miss them _sooo_ much…_

XxXxXxXxX

Kimihiro growled. Why on Earth did he have to come to the park, holding onto the abnormally large ground cherry — akin to how a couple would hold a knife when cutting a wedding cake — with _Doumeki_ of all people? Oh, right, the sadistic Yuuko-san._ That_ and because, according to her, he needed someone who could at least repel spirits and lesser youkai. He would've asked Kagome-chan if she hadn't already left the day before to visit an old friend. And since putting Himawari-chan in danger was out of the question, he was forced to take Doumeki along with him.

At the strike of four, the ground cherry glowed, and when the light finally died down, the entire scenery changed. Countless youkai, of all shapes and sizes, strolled in front of them, each one holding onto a ground cherry.

"What is this?" Well, at least he now knew why he needed someone with the ability to repel spirits.

"Hyakki yakou?" Doumeki replied.

"You mean, where youkai and artefact spirits march in a parade carrying lanterns?"

Then a youkai which looked like a humanoid blue fish paused to look at them. "What are you doing? You'd be left behind if you don't hurry up."

Not having much choice (mainly due to Yuuko), they entered the crowd.

"How are you feeling?" Doumeki asked, keeping his voice low to not alert the surrounding creatures. "Is there a strange smell? Do you feel like throwing up?"

Kimihiro did the same. This wasn't a good place to attract attention. He sniffed the air. "No, not particularly."

"So, that means that these guys in the hyakki yakou aren't bad, huh?"

"You think so?" he asked, glancing at the only other human in the area.

Doumeki nodded. "You haven't gotten ill as far as I could see, so these youkai must not have turned any malice towards you. I suppose there could be some dangerous ones gathered here, but you should be able to distinguish between the good ones and the evil ones."

His eyebrows furrowed. Well, he was probably _half_ right about that. Kagome _had_ commented on how he was more sensitive to jaki than any other types of energy, which was also why he couldn't always distinguish spirits and youkai from humans.

Kimihiro didn't know how long they had followed the tail of the parade, but they eventually arrived at their destination — a gigantic leafless white tree with blooming flowers which glowed, making it more ethereal.

"What an amazing tree," Kimihiro said, eyes widening at the scene.

Doumeki glanced at him. "Are you getting a bad feeling?"

He shook his head. "It's overwhelming, but not bad." It was a bit similar to the daffodil world he and kudagutsune had gone to, but less pure.

It was hard to see since they were at the very back, but it seemed as though the youkai were bringing their ground cherry close to the tree for something. Kimihiro jumped again, hoping to get a better view, but accidentally stumbled, breaking his grip on his ground cherry.

Instantly, as if a spell had been broken, every single one of the youkai stilled and turned around, encircling the duo. Murmurs heated up in the crowd.

"Humans?"

"Why are there humans here of all places?"

"Impossible."

"But they are really here."

"I wonder how they got a ground cherry."

"More than that, what should we do about them?"

"What a bother."

"Well, they're humans, after all."

"That's right."

"And they're like enemies."

"Which means…"

"It can't be helped."

There was a pause.

"Shall we?"

"We have no choice."

"Let's eat them."

"Eat them."

"Eat them."

"Eat them."

The circle around them grew smaller as the crowd of youkai approached. However, before they could do anything else, an enormous amount of youki filled the air and the ground shook, sending everyone, including energy-insensitive Doumeki, down on their knees from the pressure.

"S-s-sess-sess-sesshoumaru-sama!" a youkai stuttered when the youki lessened.

As one, the trembling crowd turned to face the tree where a silver-haired male with purple marking on his face was standing. There were also two katana strapped to his waist. Golden eyes swept the land. "What is the meaning of this unsightly behaviour?" His voice was low, but it easily cut through the still air and reached everyone's ears.

Some of the braver youkai gestured at them. "T-t-there are h-humans here."

"They shouldn't be here."

"W-We were going to e-eat them."

When golden eyes turned to stare at them, all the surrounding youkai scampered away, leaving a small clearing around them.

Kimihiro blinked. Sesshoumaru… Wasn't that Kagome-chan's…?

"Ah! Kimihiro-kun, Doumeki-kun! What are you two doing here?" A very familiar figure stepped out from behind Sesshoumaru, dressed in blue furisode, decorated in lotuses, and wearing three hairsticks — one elaborately decorated and two less so.

The two of them stood up upon seeing a familiar face. "Kagome-chan?" Kimihiro asked.

Murmurs started up again.

"Another human?"

"Sesshoumaru-sama is with another human."

"Why?"

"Is he going to eat her?"

XxXxXxXxX

"Silence," the inu daiyoukai ordered — a demand which was instantly obeyed. "The Shikon no Miko is a part the House of the West. And those two humans are under her protection. Should any of you attempt to harm her or hers, this Sesshoumaru has given her full authority to deal with you as she pleases."

Kagome rolled her eyes. Trust him to be overly dramatic about these things. Then again, she really was the only one left from that time. Smiling at the petrified crowd, she said, "Don't worry; I won't purify you to ashes if you play nice." She then strolled over towards the two boys, with the youkai parting like the Red Sea, grasped their hands and led them over to the tree.

Sesshoumaru stared at them, face betraying none of his thoughts. "Should you two bring harm upon the Shikon no Miko, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual…" He raised his claws, which were encased in a sickly green glow of poison. "This one would deal with you himself."

Kagome frowned, resting her hands on her hips, and glaring into golden eyes. "I'm not a frail little girl, and." She then poked him in the chest with every word she said. "You. Know. That. Ses. Su. Shou. Ma. Ru. Sa. Ma." With a huff, she tugged her friends over to one of the glowing flowers, and then, placed a hand on its white trunk. "These two are my friends and they are good people. Would you please grant them some of your nectar?"

The flower petals opened and poured golden nectar into the ground cherry Kimihiro and Doumeki were holding together. A female voice also rang out. "That nectar that, once a year, only those who make it to the hyakki yakou may drink. Please drink with great care. After all, it's thanks to Sesshoumaru-sama and Kagome-sama that you are able to return with this. Children with such incredibly rare spirits, good things are not always drawn in by such energy. There must have been some tough times up to now. But that's changing. It is just a little at a time, but please, hold that transformation dear. Particularly the changes made possible through the people you meet."

XxXxXxXxX

Higurashi and Sesshoumaru-sama _(he knew of his prowess from his grandfather's stories)_ led them away from the tree, and then, they suddenly found themselves in the park they had started out in, with no youkai in sight.

"We're back?" Watanuki asked, glancing around. "It wasn't a dream, was it?"

Shizuka pulled back his sleeve, revealing his watch. It was midnight. "If it were a dream, that'd mean we had been sleeping for nearly eight hours."

His friend gaped at him. "Wha!" After a brief silence, he asked, "Why did Yuuko-san give me the ground cherry?"

"That, you see," her voice came from behind, "was because I wanted the nectar." Yuuko took the ground cherry from his hands and nuzzled it. "The nectar from hyakki yakou is more delicious than any sake from this world!" she cooed.

Watanuki groaned. "You mean, in other words…"

"Thanks for running the errand!" Yuuko and Mokona cheered, earning themselves angry retorts from the teen.

They sat there in the park for several hours more, partying, drinking the nectar and eating the delicious snacks Watanuki had made beforehand. When said spirit-magnet finally fell asleep on the picnic blanket, Shizuka asked, "Why are you here? If you hadn't come, he would have brought the nectar to your shop. But you were waiting. Is it because I was with him?" She just stared at him with crimson eyes, so he decided to take the plunge. "Do you not want me in your shop?"

Yuuko smiled. "So, you realized, huh? There's no reason for you to come in. My shop is a place that is here, and yet, not. Only those that have need are able to enter."

Shizuka glanced at his sort-of-friend. "So, this guy has a need to be there?"

She nodded, sending an almost fond look towards her employee. "Yes. That shop, you see, has prepared him for what lies ahead. That's why he came." She paused. "There are no coincidences in this world. Everything is hitsuzen."

To prepare him for the future, huh? That was something Higurashi-san had warned him of early on — Watanuki would be dragged deeper and deeper into the second world, where more danger and hardship lied ahead. And by extension, he, too, would be involved in some of them.

"How about Higurashi-san?"

Yuuko sipped some nectar. "She's a slightly different case. Kagome-chan is also needed, but she doesn't necessarily need my shop. She could see, and hence, enter the shop do to her special powers. Barriers tend to have a hard time obstructing her way," she smiled, "as many of her past enemies had found."

XxXxXxXxX

"What do you think of them?" Kagome asked, taking a bite of mochi. They were now seated in the dining hall of Sesshoumaru's sky castle, which had been his father's gift to his mother.

The Western Lord sipped at his glass of nectar. "This one was correct in his earlier assumption. There is something strange about the boy with blue eyes. He was supposed to be born from a descendent of the Li Clan, a clan of pureblooded humans. But there is something inhuman about that boy. Similar to your current self, but less so."

Kagome stared at her hand, letting her Shikon-influenced miko ki rise to the surface of her skin. Because she was born with that cursed jewel, her body and soul had been altered. And she had become a creature slightly more than human. She was slowly getting used to the idea the more she hang out with Sesshoumaru-sama and other supernatural creatures. It had also helped that she practiced using her powers, opening her senses to the different flows of time, more often.

Every creature had a different sense of time. Insects typically viewed each day as humans would a year. Animals also had a faster sense of time than humans. Youkai, on the other hand, saw a year as humans would a month or day. Hours, days, months, and years, meant almost nothing to those who lived for centuries, millenniums. To live a life counting them could encourage insanity. So, Kagome was resolved to drop those time counters as soon as all her precious people who lived by them had passed away. It would be difficult, but she would soon adapt to a daiyoukai's way of thinking when she moved into the House of the West in the future. She _had_ to, if she didn't want to go insane.

It was probably why Yuuko-san tended to drink and smoke her life away — anything to temporarily forget the long days ahead and the heartache of loss. As Kagome had observed early on, Yuuko-san was an inhuman human, but it wasn't until she had gotten better at sensing the flow of time that Kagome discovered Yuuko-san's time had been frozen by someone immensely powerful. Even she wouldn't be able to do such a feat.

Still, was Kimihiro-kun also placed in a similar situation? Had he been touched by powerful magic early on in life?

"Yuuko-san probably knows more," she sighed. Otherwise, the shopkeeper wouldn't have been so interested in her friend's welfare and his relationships with Doumeki-kun and Himawari-chan.

Sesshoumaru hmmed thoughtfully. "The Dimension Witch? Yes, that could be so. She probably had a hand in it."

XxXxXxXxX

"Where's Yuuko-san?"

"She's gone!" Watanuki snarled, still agitated from the earlier parts of their conversation. He crossed his arms. "Man, you're persistent! She's been out for work!"

Shizuka frowned. Higurashi-san, with the school's permission, had gone back home due to a family emergency — her grandfather, after collapsing, had been brought to a hospital. And now with Yuuko-san also out of town, who knew what troubles Watanuki could get into. He couldn't stay near him either, not with the upcoming archery competition.

"What happened to the kudagitsune?"

"It's at Yuuko-san's shop. It's sleeping inside its tube."

That was good. Aside from his bracelet, Watanuki also had another protection. "Carry that with you," Shizuka ordered, before heading to the archery range. He was going to take a leaf out of Higurashi-san's book and vent out his worries on the archery target.

XxXxXxXxX

"Mama, how's jii-chan?" Kagome asked, slamming the door opened, panting. Too impatient to wait for the bus, she had run all the way from the subway station and up the hundred-something shrine stairs.

Her mother smiled as cheerfully as she could, though Kagome could make out the purple bags under her eyes. "Jii-chan has been discharged from the hospital and is now resting upstairs. The doctors say it's just an unfortunate side effect of old age. Our body gets frailer as we age."

Kagome bit her lips. This was probably _not _a good time to tell her family of her recent discovery. Well, it was more like she didn't know how she should break the news —_ Um… I've found out that the Shikon no Tama had done something weird with me and now I age as slowly as a daiyoukai, meaning all of you would age and die while I'd stay the same as I do now._ Yeah, that would go soooo smoothly, especially with their worries about jii-chan's health.

XxXxXxXxX

The woman he had been meeting in the park for the past two days laughed after hearing what happened at lunch.

"Please don't laugh so much," Kimihiro said, blushing in embarrassment.

Her laughter subsided a little. "I'm sorry, but I think that's so cute."

"That's not cute," he protested. Kimihiro slumped down. "It's more like pathetic, really." It had been a very rare occasion where he had eaten lunch with Himawari-chan, alone, _without_ that idiot Doumeki. And yet, that guy somehow still disrupted their time alone together because she kept bringing him up despite his best efforts.

"It _is_ cute," the woman insisted. "So you like this girl named Himawari-chan, don't you?"

His face reddened and his heart pounded in his chest. "W-Well, I mean, um… It's like… When I'm with Hi-Himawari-chan, I get so amped up, and—"

She smiled. "I hope Himawari-chan will be attracted to you."

Kimihiro's jaw slackened. Up till now, the only one who had ever encouraged his relationship with Himawari-chan was Kagome-chan — Yuuko-san often mentioned how she wasn't his Lady Luck and Doumeki just kept interrupting. And yet, this woman… With nothing else to say, he only nodded in response.

"It's getting colder now," she said, looking up at the darkened sky. "Your family will be worried if you don't go home."

"Oh, I live by myself." Which was why he really treasured the noisy moments at the shop, no matter how annoying certain characters were. Anything was better than the cold dark lonely apartment.

"Boarding houses? Does your family live far away?"

He shook his head, turning his gaze downwards. "No, I don't have any parents."

She gasped and looked away, eyebrows furrowing. "I'm sorry I asked."

Blue eyes widened. "No, not at all!" He didn't want the nice lady to feel guilty over something like this. "It happened a long time ago, and—"

The woman laid her hands on his and stared into his eyes. "No matter how long it has been, people could never forget the loss of that special someone. And they would always feel sad about it."

Kimihiro didn't know how to respond to that. It was nice having an older woman who cared for him. Yuuko-san didn't count. While he may have learnt to care for the shopkeeper, Yuuko-san could never give him the feelings of a mother. This woman, however… She was as kind as the mother in his memories…

XxXxXxXxX

Under mama and Souta's watchful eyes, her hands glowed light purple as they hovered over her resting jii-chan's body. The colour of her energy changed depending on its source — light pink from her own natural miko abilities and light purple from the Shikon no Tama. Her purification and healing powers stemmed from the former, but it was the latter which brought about her time-influencing abilities.

After some talk, she and Sesshoumaru had come up with the theory that the Shikon no Tama wanted eternity; that was why it had tried to use her fear against her, to persuade her to make the wish they desired. She had overcome it, in the end, and wished for the jewel's eternal disappearance. But, it still had enough will to make a desperate move — the remaining aspects of the Shikon had merged with her soul and changed her flow of time in hopes that it would live forever as a part of her instead.

"Nee-chan, would this really help jii-chan?"

"Of course, Souta. Right now I'm sending healing energy into him to purge him of all jaki and any lingering diseases. I'm also boosting up his immune system."

It was half true. Kagome had already done all that the night before when everyone else was asleep. Right now, she was building up a thin time barrier within his body to slow down his aging, only for a bit though — she didn't have enough strength or energy to maintain a stronger one from a distance. It would also help slow down any progression of disease once it entered his body.

"My healing abilities are limited in this case since his body is naturally starting to fail on him. I won't be able to deage him, but jii-chan should have at least a few more years on him than otherwise." Her training had shown her that, while she could slow down and speed up time, she couldn't turn it back. What was done was done. Nothing could change it.

Mama smiled and placed a hand on her shoulders. "It's alright, Kagome. Like you've said, jii-chan is simply growing old. We're already very lucky you could give him more time."

Kagome found it hard to smile back. A few more years, huh? It wasn't enough. It could _never_ be enough.

XxXxXxXxX

Kimihiro paused in his steps and coughed. He had been feeling sick for the past few days, and it was steadily getting worse. He should probably stay inside, away from the cold, but he couldn't bare the thought of leaving the kind lady all alone in the park.

Whenever he had the time, he would go to the park to be with her — complaining about Doumeki, gushing about Himawari-chan, talking about Kagome-chan, chattering about Yuuko-san. She would listen to him without fail, always ready to offer a kind word and a smile.

He looked forward to seeing her and always went back home with a small amount of regret. It was nice having her by his side. It was like having a mother all over again.

XxXxXxXxX

"Kagome!"

She turned around to see three grinning girls running towards her. Kagome suppressed her groan and waved back. "Ayumi! Eri! Yuka! Long time no time! How are you?"

And with that, they fell back into old routines — telling each other of their days at school, gossiping about everything and everyone, complaining about annoyances. Then, it finally came to their love life, or lack thereof for certain individuals.

Eri had just broken up a few months ago, having found the boy two-timing her. Ayumi was having a secret relationship with a young teacher, whose name she refused to reveal for his safety. Yuka, much to Kagome's delight and surprise, was dating Hojo-kun, meaning he wouldn't bother her again.

"How about you, Kagome?"

She shook her head. "No. I'm not interested in having a love relationship at the moment." Especially not after learning about her immunity to time. "After the whole thing with Inuyasha, I've decided to not muddle friendship with romantic relationship, and focus more on school instead."

"Eh? But that's so boring!"

Kagome could only laugh when the three of them brainstormed all the reasons why she should get herself a boyfriend, including: free gifts and free meals, a body to cuddle up to, having someone jealous over you, having a person's undivided attention, and much more.

XxXxXxXxX

Arms crossed, Shizuka stared at Watanuki, who had finally woken up after several hours, from his spot by the infirmary door. He had noticed that his friend's health was getting worse by the day, but he hadn't confronted him with it, thinking that it may have been a simple cold. But then, Watanuki had collapsed during physical education class.

Once Kunogi-san left the infirmary to inform a teacher, he asked, "You've got a cold."

Watanuki looked away. "I think it is."

His frowned deepened. "There's no fever, though." Shizuka had checked his temperature when he carried the unconscious teen to the infirmary. There hadn't even been any cold sweat either, so Watanuki hadn't been_ that_ ill. But people don't faint from a simple cold. "Are you sure it's not related to spirits?"

Putting on his glasses, Watanuki replied, "No. Besides, I haven't even seen them lately."

Shizuka narrowed his eyes. From experience and from the stories Higurashi-san had told, Watanuki couldn't always distinguish between spirits and humans. There was a possibility that he had encountered a spirit strong enough to ward off other spirits and not be affected by the bracelet Higurashi-san had given the teen.

"So, what is it?" Watanuki asked, bristling like a cat.

"I guess even an idiot would catch a cold in the early spring, huh?"

He growled. "What did you say?" And then, Watanuki slumped onto the blankets, having run out of his energy.

Shizuka walked forwards, his arms still cross from his displeasure of this situation. "What happened to the kudagitsune? Didn't I tell you to carry it with you?"

Watanuki looked up tiredly. "I haven't gone to Yuuko-san's shop lately." He didn't even seem to be capable of mustering the strength for another argument. "I'll stop by soon."

"Are you sure?"

He scowled. "Don't be suspicious!"

Shizuka furrowed his eyebrows. Hmm… Maybe he should skip practice and trail after him just to make sure… But then the captain would just hound him for it. After all, with Higurashi-san adamant with not joining, he was their greatest hope in winning the championships. Maybe he should show up at Watanuki's house instead…

XxXxXxXxX

_Okay. Kagome. This is it. Remember, you're going to tell them the truth._ "Mama, I…"

A glowing blue butterfly flew through the closed window and fluttered in front of her. Yuuko's voice sounded from it. "Kagome-chan, Watanuki collapsed in the shop."

She slammed her hands on the table and stood up. "What!"

"Don't worry; I have already called Doumeki-kun to pick him up. Everything should be dealt with by the boys tomorrow, but it is probably better if you return soon." Then, the butterfly disintegrated into sparkles of light before disappearing altogether.

Kagome glanced over at her gathered family. "Mama, I…"

"What's wrong, Kagome?" her mother asked, face pinched with worry. "What were you shouting at?"

She scanned their faces, all of them wearing bewildered and concerned expressions. _I see… The message wasn't for them to hear…_ "Mama, I've just received a message. One of my friends has gotten really sick because of a spirit. Yuuko-san said that everything should be fine tomorrow, but…"

Her mother smiled. "It's alright. But it's already very late. Why don't you head out tomorrow after breakfast?"

XxXxXxXxX

Shizuka knew that Watanuki wouldn't listen to their warnings. He would _definitely_ go back to see that woman, whatever she was, even if she was the reason for his deterioration of health. Watanuki was too emotionally attached to her; and he cared too little about himself.

He won't stand allow a precious person to disappear right before his eyes, not when he could do something about it. He knew that his choice would hurt his friend. Regardless, he would still get rid of the threat to his friend's life, even if it meant bearing Watanuki's grudge forever and losing their friendship.

With that in mind, Shizuka picked up his longbow and headed for the park.

XxXxXxXxX

"Kimihiro-kun! Kimihiro-kun!" Kagome shouted, bursting into the shop. Moro and Maru greeted her and quietly summarized what had occurred in the past few days as they led her to the person she wanted to see.

She fell down to her knees next to his futon. "Are you okay, Kimihiro-kun?" she asked, brushing a hand through his hair. "I heard about what happened."

Kagome stretched out her senses towards the bracelet. Why hadn't it done its job in protecting her friend? Her energy probed at it. Oh… Most of its energy had been used to prevent his decline in health as much as possible. Not only that, but his energy had unconsciously blocked her miko ki's attempts in purifying the spirit due to his wish to keep the woman safe from harm.

Her eyes softened. "Oh, Kimihiro-kun… You must've really loved her."

As if a dam had burst, tears flowed down his cheeks in rivers. Kagome lifted up his weakened body into a sitting position and hugged him close, ignoring the wetness spreading on her shirt.

"Even if she wasn't human, she was still loving and nice to me," he sobbed. "I _knew_ that I shouldn't have ignored Yuuko-san's warning, but I… And Doumeki… He…"

"Shh…" Kagome cooed, rubbing his back. "It's alright. I'm the_ last_ person in this world who could condemn you for loving someone who, intentionally or not, would only hurt you." She had stayed by Inuyasha's side _knowing_ his heart wasn't hers to keep even though she had given him hers during that time. But it had been her choice to make. She didn't regret it at all, despite the heartbreak and hardships. "You loved her and she loved you. Nothing could _ever _change that."

"Sh-She said she was lonely. And I didn't want her to feel like that. B-But after Dou-Doumeki sh-shot her, sh-she said that she wasn't lonely anymore," he cried into her shoulder. "She said that she wasn't lonely anymore!"

Kagome smiled. "It's that good? You've given the one thing she had always wanted before she passed on. And there are a lot of spirits in the afterlife. I'm sure she'd find her family there as well. So, she definitely won't be lonely anymore. She would remember your love forever, just like her love for you would never leave your heart."

Her heart clenched. That spirit wasn't the only one who was lonely, wasn't it? This boy in her arms had always returned to a lonely apartment, and she had never even thought about it. _Some friend I turned out to be_.

"Hey, Kimihiro-kun, would you mind if I moved into your apartment?"

Blue eyes blinked at her. "Wha?"

Her lips tugged into a grin. "You're lonely living alone, aren't you? And I can't stay at Yuuko-san's shop forever. I'll help pay the rent, bills and groceries." Plus, this way she'd get to eat his delicious food practically whatever she wanted.

XxXxXxXxX

Spotting Watanuki conversing happily with Kunogi-san and Higurashi-san, Shizuka braced his heart for the hurt he would feel from rejection. It was _his_ choice. As long as his friend didn't disappear, he didn't mind losing a cherished friendship. He really didn't.

Shizuka walked passed the teen, who had stilled upon seeing him, determined to not lose his composure or make eye contact.

"Wait," Watanuki said softly.

He paused in his steps.

"You can come too. To have lunch." He raised his voice pompously. "Since I've already invited Himawari-chan, Kagome-chan, and all!"

Shizuka looked back, eyes widened in disbelief. He had been certain that their friendship had been lost the moment he had fired that arrow. But, seeing Watanuki's familiar scowl, he smiled. "You'd better have some inari-zushi for me."

Watanuki dashed over, yelling and arms flailing, "Hell no! First of all, why do you always want inari-zushi!" Shizuka plugged his ears. "Today I made tri-coloured onigiri!"

He sighed, crossing his arms nonchalantly. "Oh, well… I guess I'll hang out."

His friend gritted his teeth. "You sonova… Why do you have to say it like that!"

Kunogi giggled. "You two really do get along so well, don't you, Watanuki-kun, Doumeki-kun?"

"Yeah, who needs the TV when we have Kimihiro-kun and Doumeki-kun around?" Higurashi added.

Shizuka smiled as Watanuki's rant washed over his ears. Everything was back to normal now. He still had the friendship he treasured. All was well in his world again.

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

**What do you think of my**** eighth ****chapter? **Please Read and Review**. I would love to know how good and how bad my fics are. If you want to flame me, at least make it constructive criticism.**

What do you think of my portrayal of Kagome, Sesshoumaru, Kimihiro, and Shizuka?

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize f****ro****m the **_**xxxHolic**_**, **_**Inuyasha**_**, and **_**Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles**_** aren't mines; they belong to their respective owners. Anything else belongs to me. **Please ask for permission and getting it before taking my things.

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_May fantasy guide your writing through it all - Dementra_


	9. Grudge of Spiders

_**Of Dreams and Wishes**_

**Hi! Thanks for wanting to read this fanfic. I hope you like this story.**

All my current knowledge regarding _xxxHolic_ manga stem mainly from Wikipedia and some other sites, but I did read some manga chapters for references for certain details the anime doesn't provide. As such, this fanfic would mainly follow _xxxHolic _anime with some addition from the manga.

However, I would be changing the order of the episodes around and wouldn't include all the cases, so don't complain if you find that my fanfic doesn't follow the same chronological order as in the anime and manga.

_Of Dreams and Wishes_ takes place after the _Inuyasha_ series, with changes with its ending and certain details. Also, most of the characters from _Inuyasha_ and _Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles _would not appear as often as the _xxxHolic_ main characters and Kagome.

I find that the whole mess with Kimihiro, Li Syaoran, Li Sakura, Li Tsubasa, and Princess Tsubasa is just way too complicated to put into _Of Dreams and Wishes_ in detail. So, I'm going to heavily gloss over it, and would only be adding the bare necessities where able.

**For those who are interested romance between the characters:**

**While there may be hints of it, there won't be any actual romance in at least the next few chapters. The characters' current selves aren't ready for it yet, even though Kimihiro has a strong puppy love for Himawari.**

**Kagome — issues with her time immunity,** which she is still coming into terms with it at the moment

**Kimihiro — issues with his self-worth, or lack thereof, **which is slowly changing

**Shizuka — general communication issues; **and he never did seem to be interested in having love relationships at this point in time

**Himawari — issues with her tainted aura, **which I would be further addressing later (those who have already watched and/or read _xxxHolic_ already know the details)

**Yuuko — well… let's just say her issues has something to do with her frozen time and her role as the Dimension Witch, **which I would be further addressing later (those who have already watched and/or read _xxxHolic_ already know the details)

**Sesshoumaru — he's… well… he's Sesshoumaru, enough said** (you'd understand a bit more in this chapter)

**In other words, romance would be slow to come because their minds aren't ready for it yet. However, their relationships would deepen on their own without the character's conscious awareness.**

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

**Vocabulary**

Hitsuzen — inevitable, fated

Ofuda — protective wards on parchment / paper wards

Sengoku Jidai — Feudal Era

Shikon no Tama — Jewel of Four Souls

Miko — priestess, shrine maiden

Miko ki – priestess energy

Jaki — miasma, evil energy

Youki — demon energy

Youkai — demon

Daiyoukai — great demon

Inu — dog

Kumo — spider

Kami — god

Zashiki-warashi — vestal sprite; supposed to bring fortune when staying with a household, but fortune declines when zashiki-warashi leaves

Karasu tengu — crow-billed goblin

-tachi — and co; company; group;

Osuwari — sit; it's Kagome's command word which triggers a spell on Inuyasha's rosary, sending him flat onto the ground

Kazaana — wind tunnel; it's a curse Naraku placed on Miroku's grandfather, which was eventually passed onto Miroku; kazaana sucks up everything in its path like a black hole; when kazaana grows too big, it would completely destroy its carrier

Otou / Otou-san / Tou-san / Otou-chan / Tou-chan / Otou-sama / Tou-sama / Chichiue / Oyaji — father, in different forms of endearment and respect

Ojii-chan / Jii-chan / Ojii-san / Jii-san / Ojii-sama / Jii-sama — grandfather, in different forms of endearment and respect

Gomen ne — I'm sorry

**Chapter 9 Grudge of Spiders**

_Five hundred years… Has it already been so long?_

Sesshoumaru swirled the red wine in his glass absentmindedly, golden eyes gazed off into the distance. If he closed his eyes, he could still picture the toothy grin which had never failed to be directed towards him from the one human girl who trusted him and loved with all her heart and soul. He had never told Rin he had loved her as well. But there had never been any need to. She had _known_ from the very start.

On her deathbed, just as he had been about to say the words that had never uttered his lips since he had been born, one of her trembling wrinkled hands had rested on his cheeks, and with a breathy whisper, she said, "I know, Sesshoumaru-sama." She then shook her head. "No… chichiue. I have always known. I love you too."

And then, wearing her last toothy grin, Rin had passed away from this world, leaving behind an inu daiyoukai, howling to the heavens of his sorrow.

Even with all his powers, he had been unable to prevent his pack _(and yes, Inuyasha's pack had become an extended pack of his)_ from slipping away, like grasping water with bare hands.

When the last of the first generation of his pack _(he refused to see their descendents as his _true_ pack) _finally left for the afterlife, he had closed off his heart to everyone else. He didn't need close relationships. He didn't _want_ to experience the loss he had felt for not being able to protect his pack. He was their alpha. The alpha was supposed to be capable of protecting everyone in his pack, but they had placed their trust in him to do so. And yet, here he was, alive without his pack.

Inuyasha's pack had, of course, reassured him that he won't be the only one left — the strangely-dressed miko was from the future; they would be able to meet again.

Sesshoumaru hadn't put much stock in that. Time-travelling. Humph. He had heard of better tall tales. Besides, even if it _was_ true, the miko was human. She too would leave him within a few decades at most.

At first, he had resolved to stay away from the Higurashi Shrine and its surrounding area as to not meet up with her. _(She would be safe in this era. The Shikon no Tama was gone. She won't be bothered by youkai. And even if she came cross any, she would be able to protect herself.)_ But then he had heard about the miko who now worked under the Dimension Witch and who had done Ame-warashi a favour.

There had been no doubt in mind who that miko was.

He had pondered over whether he should meet her or not, but he also had his pack's last wills to consider. And so, in the end, he went to meet her.

It was a pleasant surprise to find out what the Shikon no Tama had done to her in its last moments.

Higurashi Kagome was pack. She was a pack member who wouldn't disintegrate in the sands of time.

_Finally… after so long…_

XxXxXxXxX

She had been living at Kimihiro's apartment for a little more than a week now, adding her own touch for decorations here and there _(and using her miko ki to reinforce the various ofuda)_. Of course, since it was so small, they had to share a bedroom, but it was alright_ (though Kimihiro had acted rather awkward at the beginning)_. She was used to sleeping with others nearby from her adventures in Sengoku Jidai. In fact, it had gotten to the point that she felt it difficult to fall asleep without another presence nearby — Buyo at the shrine; Moro, Maru, and occasionally Mokona, at the shop.

In a way, Kagome was glad that Kimihiro had met that spirit, despite the emotional pain it had brought him — it had opened up her eyes to his loneliness. Now that she knew what had been ailing him, it had been glaringly obvious how he tended to stay at the shop for long hours to avoid going back home and how his aura unconsciously reached out to others _(that was probably a factor for spirits' attraction to him)_. She was a complete idiot for not realizing it sooner.

Now, his aura seemed lighter, happier; and unlike before, it didn't seem to be constantly clawing for other auras like a starving beast.

Kagome smiled, nodding as Kimihiro gushed about the wonderful Himawari-chan _(his crush was really cute, but his fawning could get tiresome after a while)_. Hearing a soft moan, she turned to see her other friend covering his right eye.

"Are you alright, Doumeki-kun?" she asked, frowning. "Your eye has been bothering you since lunch, hasn't it? Do you need to see a doctor?" Not to mention, his aura had been shifting weirdly as well.

"No. They wouldn't be able to help." The exorcist lifted his hand away, revealing the spider web-like markings stemming from his right eye. "I've never heard of a disease where you get these markings and your eye won't open."

Her hand, glowing light pink with miko ki, hovered of his eye, probing at its aura. "I… can't purify or heal this. It's not a result of tainted energy or an illness." She cocked her head to the side. This felt somewhat familiar. Where…? Oh, right. "This feels more like a curse. From a… spider?"

Wait. Speaking of spiders… Earlier this morning, she and Kimihiro-kun had passed by Doumeki-kun's temple on their way to school, as usual. Since there was still quite a bit of time before school started, they had decided _(well, reluctantly so, for her roommate)_ to help him sweep the grounds. Kimihiro-kun had accidentally gotten caught in a spider web and Doumeki-kun had destroyed it to free their friend. Could it be? Was it actually the home of a lesser youkai?

She could easily sense strong youki, but it took intent and concentration to do the same for ones form lesser youkai since they tended to be really faint. Curses could be used to torment their victims, but they would also be used if the opponent was too strong to face head on. And Doumeki-kun was _definitely_ too strong for a lesser youkai.

Judging by her fri4nds' expressions, they had similar thoughts.

Kagome frowned. "The methods of breaking a specific curse depend on the curse itself, but, in general, you can break it by casting a counter-spell, disrupting the curse if it is incomplete, having the caster break it themselves, or killing the caster. In some cases, you could even transfer the curse to something else."

"Then let's go to Yuuko-san!" Kimihiro exclaimed, glancing at Doumeki worriedly. He probably blamed himself for their stoic friend's condition. That lovable self-sacrificing idiot.

The exorcist shook his head. "I can't enter her shop."

"What do you mean by that?"

She laid a hand on her increasingly agitated friend's shoulder. "Kimihiro-kun, Yuuko-san's shop is a place that straddles between dimensions. Not everyone is capable of seeing or entering her shop. Only those who meet certain criteria could get through her barrier. Doumeki-kun isn't one of them. Even if he followed us, he would see a very different image than we do and we would disappear right before his eyes when we step through the fence."

Kimihiro huffed, turning around on his heels, dashing away. "Kagome-chan! Stay at Doumeki's temple for the night!"

Staring at the back of her friend, who was growing more distant by the second, Kagome bit her lips. She had a really bad feeling about this…

"Are you sure it's alright if you don't follow that idiot?" Doumeki asked.

She nodded. "Yeah… Yuuko-san cares for him a lot, so she wouldn't like Kimihiro-kun do anything _too_ stupid under her watch." He'd _better_ not! Otherwise, she'd somehow produce subjugation beads and osuwari his ass to the opposite side of this world. "Besides, I want to check out your storeroom and see if there're any books on your curse."

That night, a strange wind rattled the storeroom and swirled around Doumeki, when the door opened. When it finally died down, his eye returned to normal. But Kagome couldn't shake off the bad feeling she had earlier.

XxXxXxXxX

Kagome frowned. Kimihiro was uncharacteristically subdued. What happened after they parted? He didn't do anything stupid, did he?

Doumeki seemed to have similar thoughts as he pulled Kimihiro's arm, making him turn around, revealing the white medical patch over his right eye.

Her breath hitched. There were no coincidences in this world. Last night, Doumaki-kun's right eye returned to normal. And today, Kimihiro-kun's…

Miko ki rushed throughout her body, vying to be used, to do some damage, to do something, _anything_, about this situation. Her knuckles whitened. She wanted an open field where she could shoot arrows as she pleased. Yuuko-san's shop was too crowded. She didn't want to destroy anything important.

Slamming Kimihiro's back to the nearest wall, Doumeki ripped off the eye patch, sending his glasses to the ground with a clatter. The eye underneath had clouded over, turning blue to grey, and its pupil didn't react to light either — their friend was now blind in his right eye.

She won't be able to fix it. She can't heal something that had already been stolen. The only way to fix this was the get it back.

"You bastard," Doumeki growled. "Go call her," he demanded. For the first time since she had met him, her friend showed blatant anger on his face — eyebrows pinched, eyes narrowed, mouth scowling, teeth clenched. "I can't go into that shop, so call her."

He harrumphed. "School's about to start, so why should I—?"

The taller male slammed his hand on the wall beside Kimihiro's head, cutting his words off. "Call her."

Kagome took a few deep breaths, forcing her wild miko ki to submission. It wasn't the time to let her fury and frustrations get better of her. She placed her hand on his shoulder. "Doumeki-kun, calm down. Getting angry won't solve anything. We could deal with this after school's over." Then molten pink-purple eyes stared into sky blue and dull grey. "As for you, Kimihiro-kun, can't say I'm happy with your choice of action, but I also can't say I don't understand why you did it either. I just wished you could've waited longer until we find a better solution." She tugged on Doumeki's sleeve. "Come on, let's get going. Or we'd be late."

XxXxXxXxX

It was hard concentrating like this — her thoughts kept straying back to her friend's eye and her energy would consequently stir beneath her skin. It was probably worse for Doumeki-kun, who was in the same class as Kimihiro-kun. Kagome sighed.

Why did Kimihiro-kun have to act so rashly?

It was almost like dealing with her second family again — Inuyasha always jumped into the fray without any prior planning besides the thought of beating his opponents up with brute force; Miroku-sama had almost died by sucking up too much shouki with his kazaana for the sake of keeping his friends and Sango-chan safe; Sango-chan was ready to sacrifice almost everything for Miroku-sama and Kohaku-kun.

Then again, she wasn't really one to talk, was she?

How many reckless things had she done in Sengoku Jidai?

Too many to count.

But even not even the most reckless of her second family members had done what Kimihiro had. Sure, they had taken on numerous injuries for each other; but when it came to curses, they had worked together to break the affected individual free, instead of transferring the curse over to themselves.

As soon as they pass through the barrier of Yuuko's shop, she was _sooooo_ going to give that boy a piece of her mind. How dare he do something as idiotic as this without consulting any of them first! Did he think that they would've been _pleased_? Well, she sure wasn't. She was seething mad.

XxXxXxXxX

It was so early in the morning that mist still hung in the moist air, even so, he waited. Then, footsteps sounded, and he looked up to see the person he wanted to meet.

"To call me out this early, it's going to cost you," Yuuko greeted.

Shizuka gestured over to the seat opposite of his, inviting her to sit down. "If there's something I can give, then by all means. So please, return Watanuki's eye to normal." It was _his_ fault the spider had a grudge on him. That idiot wasn't allowed to interfere, definitely not in this way.

"The one who stole Watnuki's right eye is the spider. The same one who planted a spider web on your right eye. Watanuki asked me how to make the spider hate him more, so that the grudge would be transferred over to him. And so I did."

"Why?"

She smiled nonchalantly. "Because that was Watanuki's wish."

His eyes narrowed. "Even though you knew he would end up like that?"

"Yes," she answered without a pause. "To grant wishes, that is what the shop is for. Because humans are strange creatures, even though from one person's perspective, something may seem unfortunate, to another, it may bring them happiness."

That made sense. Jii-san had often told him of the things people would sacrifice just for something they wanted, regardless of the suffering brought about by said sacrifice. "Then can you please tell me how to get his eye back from the spider?"

"I cannot do that."

Shizuka clenched his fists, using the pain to physically hold himself back. "Why not?"

"As I have already told Kagome-chan, to restore that eye, the wisher's right eye would be taken in exchange. For wishes of the same calibre, I have a rule of giving the one who arrived to me first a higher priority.

His frown deepened. He really wanted to stray from the teachings engrained within him and bash something up right now, preferably that idiot or the spider. Any one of them would do.

Her lips tugged into an amused smile. "You're angry, aren't you?"

"I'm not, not at you," Shizuka replied truthfully. After all, if that rule hadn't been put into place, who knew when certain wishes would stop. If he lost his right eye due to his wish, Watanuki would've undoubtedly done the same, and the cycle would never end.

"But you are angry at Watanuki?" He didn't bother to reply. "It's alright to be angry. That child still doesn't understand how painful it can be for a person to be sacrificed for. Especially when it is someone important. He doesn't understand all of that yet. You just have to get mad at him and teach him that."

Saying a quick goodbye and thank you to Yuuko, Shizuka left the park, speed-walking back home. If Yuuko-san and Higurashi-san couldn't fix the problem, then he would just have to find a way that _would_.

XxXxXxXxX

Kimihiro gasped, bending over with a hand covering his right eye, which wasn't obscured by the eye patch. Kagome dropped her book onto the table and scrambled over to the kitchenette. "Are you okay?" she asked, sending a stream of healing energy into him. "Is your eye hurting?"

He shook his head, straightening up. "No. Suddenly, I was seeing two different images at the same time. But it's alright now. It has stopped."

Kagome frowned. "The spider didn't take your eye. It only took your eyesight, didn't it? Your eye is probably still connected to your eyesight, so you could still get images from it." That was also probably why her friend had yet to truly feel the loss of his eye. Even though he couldn't see out of his right eye, a part of him is still aware of how his eyesight wasn't completely out of his reach yet; he still had a chance to retrieve what was lost.

Yesterday, as soon as she was alone with Yuuko, she had asked how Kimihiro's eye could be returned to normal, just like her other friend did this morning. However, unlike Doumeki, she had been given the choice to sacrifice her eye in return, since she hadn't been a part of Kimihiro's wish. But she didn't take the offer. She couldn't. If she did, both boys would be emotionally hurt by her actions. And who knew what they would be willing to do, willing to sacrifice, to get her eye back. It would've become a never-ending cycle of sacrifices until they didn't have anything left to give.

"Kimihiro-kun?"

"Hm?"

"I won't be coming home tomorrow, so you don't need to prepare dinner for me," she replied, setting up the table.

He paused in scooping up their beef stew and turned around to blink at her. "Why?"

"I'd be staying at Doumeki-kun's temple for the night. We're searching for a way to get your eye back."

His eyebrows furrowed and he frowned. "It's okay. You don't need to do anything. I'm alright with this."

"But we're not!" she yelled, slamming her hands on the table. "We're not," she repeated in a softer voice. "Kimihiro-kun, it was your choice to sacrifice your right eye for Doumeki-kun's. We respect that. So, please… respect _our_ wish to find a way to reverse the damage."

XxXxXxXxX

Himawari was worried.

Watanuki was unusually cheerful, as if he was forcing himself to feel that way to suppress his darker emotions. Whenever Doumeki was around, he seemed to be alternating between staring at Watanuki's eye patch and glaring at the same teen's back. Even Kagome had caught their weirdness. She was often seen writing in a notebook, mumbling to herself, before shaking her head and crossing something out. When Himawari asked her about it, she would smile and say that she was simply brainstorming ideas for one of her person projects. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the truth either.

She wasn't stupid. Her friends were definitely hiding something.

And it was probably related to the supernatural.

She knew that wouldn't be much help compared to the three of them; after all — Watanuki was employed by Yuuko, who seemed to often deal with the supernatural, so he probably had some skills as well; Kagome was a miko; and Doumeki also have some sort of exorcizing abilities and he lived in a temple. Still, wasn't see their friend? Why must they leave her out of their problems?

Then again, she was such a hypocrite, wasn't she?

Here, she was complaining about being left out of their business, but at the same time, weren't she, Kagome-chan, and Doumeki-kun also keeping a secret from Watanuki-kun?

Himawari knew she was being selfish for not telling Watanuki what would happen to those who stay close to her. She was scared. She honestly enjoyed Watanuki fawning over her and his blatant happiness for being with her. She didn't want it to stop. She was scared that once she told him the truth, he would turn away from her. She didn't want to lose his friendship.

But at the same time, she wanted him to really look at her. She wasn't the princess he viewed her as. Why couldn't he see what Doumeki and Kagome saw? Why must he remain so ignorant when he had the ability to see spirits? Why?

She wanted him to know. She didn't want him to know.

She fought with herself every time she saw him.

Sometimes, Himawari hated herself for it.

XxXxXxXxX

_It hurts. It hurts. Where am I? What am I doing here?_

_What is that? Blue? Ah, right… I was trying to get my precious person's right eye back. And then… And then…_

_It's getting really hard to breath. It hurts. It hurts. It's like my body is slowly being burned from the inside out. It hurts._

_I'm sorry I'm not any help. I'm sorry. I'm sorry._

_So, please don't come here. Please. I don't want you harmed._

XxXxXxXxX

"Still nothing!" Kagome growled, slammed the book shut, and leaned backwards until she was lying on the ground. It had been four days since they had first started the search _(though back then, it had been for Doumeki-kun instead of Kimihiro-kun)_, and yet, they still hadn't been able to find any spells to get back his eye. "It looks like our only option is to find the spider with Kimihiro's eye and take it back," she sighed. That, was, of course, easier said than done.

Just then, a very familiar youki reached her senses. Kagome scrambled up and rushed out the storeroom, dimmly noting that Doumeki had followed suit, just in time to see Sesshoumaru land from the sky.

"Miko," he said, monotonously.

She bowed slightly back in greeting. "Sesshoumaru-sama, what brings you here?"

"They are your pack members. It is your duty to deal with the problems they have caused."

Kagome cocked her head to the side. "Er… What… are you talking about?" As far as she knew, her 'pack members' were her second family since Inuyasha was technically their alpha. Did they somehow manage to do something beyond the grave? _Please, don't say they've ended up like Kikyou._

"One of your charges has recently lost an eye to our world."

She nodded, raising an eyebrow. Her charges? Since when were they her charges? Then again, considering Sesshoumaru's inu pack instincts, they probably were. And just how did he know about Kimihiro's situation?

"The eye contains enough energy to grant a power boost, so many have been fighting over it. If you still wish to retrieve it back, you must do so before it is eaten."

Kagome winced. Good news: they still had a chance to get back his eye. Bad news: it was like the Shikon no Tama all over again; and they were on an ever-changing time limit, depending on when the current owner decided to absorb it. Just perfect…

"Um… Sesshoumaru-sama, do you know who is currently in possession of it?"

"Jorougumo."

XxXxXxXxX

Yuuko lightly fanned herself with the tengu fan, smiling. Watanuki was becoming more and more like Clow by the day, not just in looks. Both of them were just as reckless, just as thoughtless about the people who care for them, and just as strangely charismatic — somehow picking up loyal companions here and there despite not being completely aware of it.

But, unlike Clow, Watanuki had yet to learn how to value himself as his friends valued him.

Kagome had outright blown up at him as soon as they had entered her shop, out of sight from prying sights, on the day the miko discovered the result of his wish. _That_ had been really entertaining. Yuuko didn't even know Kagome had such a large set of lungs. The little miko had yelled at an increasingly fearful Watanuki for two hours straight. Needless to say, that boy had resolved to never make her _that_ angry ever again.

Still, one's personality trait wouldn't easily be changed by an incident or two. It would take time and patience on his companions' part to eliminate Watanuki's low self-worth.

_Are they up to the task?_

She couldn't wait to see what hitsuzen had in store for them.

XxXxXxXxX

Shizuka dashed into the house and called Yuuko's shop as soon as Higurashi disappeared with Sesshoumaru-sama. Confronting Jorougumo was their last chance of ever retrieving back Watanuki's eye. If they failed, no spells could get it back.

While his sense of pride as a male and a friend rebelled against him to allow her to do it on her own _(the inu daiyoukai had made it clear that he won't directly take part in this)_, his logic compelled him to stay. Higurashi was more experienced in these matters; and she was no defenceless girl, especially when it came to supernatural creatures.

Besides, there was something that he could do.

Fifteen minutes later, they were once again seated at the park.

"Why have you call me out again, Doumeki-kun?" Yuuko asked. "Do you have a wish?"

"Yes. You've told me that I can't wish for Watanuki's eye to be restored, right?"

"That's correct."

"Then can you take my right eye and give it to Watanuki instead? That wish would work, wouldn't it?" In-between his research, Shizuka had thought long about a way to get around Watanuki's wish, and this was the only solution he could come up with.

The shopekeeper smiled, crimson eyes half-lidded in amusement. "There's no need for you to give up your entire eye. I can just as easily take _half_ of your eyesight instead. As long as you give me a proper payment for my work."

He nodded. Her idea was better than his. This way _both_ of them would still have two working eyes. "Alright. It's a deal. Give my eye to Watanuki if they can't get it back. But, if his eye is restored, would you be able to return my eyesight to me?" Truthfully, he didn't really mind either way, but he would rather get his options straight first.

"Of course." Her hand hovered over his right eye. "This is going to feel odd, but make sure to not move from your spot."

XxXxXxXxX

The worn-down building was covered with youki and jaki, making her miko ki automatically rise to the surface. However, most importantly, beneath that, she could sense Kimihiro and kudagitsune's aura. Notching on arrow on her bow, Kagome took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and focused on the origin of the youki. A clear image of Jorougumo came into her mind.

_There!_

Her eyes snapped opened and she released her arrow. It flew through the air like a pink shooting star and vanished before it hit the building walls. She had faith in her abilities and the bow she had retrieved from Azuma Mountain. That arrow would definitely hit her target.

Seconds later, a screech pierced through the air and the youki and jaki in the around were completely purified.

Kagome dashed in, barely noting the five tiny karasu tengu following her on ski boards. _(They must've been outcasts of their clans. She had never seen karasu tengu with such weak youki and tiny wings.)_ She followed Kimihiro's aura down the stairs and into a large room, possibly the remnants of a ballroom.

"Kimihiro-kun! Are you okay?" she asked, rushing over to her friend. He was kneeling by an unconscious Zashiki-warashi's side, barely keeping himself awake, while the nine-tailed version of kudagitsune stood nearby on watch.

"Ka-kagome-chan?" he replied weakly, before slumping down beside the sprite he was protecting.

She placed a hand on the two of them, sending a steady stream of miko ki into their system to purify all traces of the kai they had absorbed.

"Miko-sama, is Zashiki-warashi going to be okay?" one of the karasu tengu asked, fidgeting on his ski board. "Is she? Is she?" his companions echoed.

Kagome nodded. "I've already purified away the jaki, so they'd be just fine with some rest. Come on, let's get out of here. I'll carry Zashiki-warashi," she said, lifting up the light sprite with ease. "Kudagitsune-kun, could you carry Kimihiro-kun?" He yipped in reply, licking the face of his favourite person. "Karasu tengu-tachi, could you lead the way?"

XxXxXxXxX

Though Reizan was a bit too misty for her liking, the air here was so full of pure energy that her mind was instantly brought back to a time when youkai freely roamed the lands, a time when she was surrounded by the warmth of her second family. It was no wonder that Sesshoumaru recommended this place to stay ay if she didn't want to make a home in the human or youkai world.

But, she really would rather not live here. She didn't think her mind could take it if she was constantly reminded of Sengoku Jidai due to the abundance of energy. Being trapped by the past was really dangerous to one's sanity and happiness.

The teen using her lap as a pillow shifted and she paused in the middle of petting his hair _(it was really soft! Like Shippou-chan's)_.

"Duns'op," he mumbled, leaning against her hand.

Her fingers threaded through his hair again and he sighed in contentment. "Are you feeling better now, Kimihiro-kun?" she asked.

His eyes — one sky blue, the other a dull grey — blinked blearily up at her. "Ka… go… me… chan? Whacha doin' 'ere?"

"I was planning to take your eye back from Jorougumo, but…" Her smile took on a bitter edge. "I arrived too late. I was only successful in purifying Jorougumo, and the jaki out of your and Zashiki-warashi's systems. And nothing else. Oh, she's alright now. The karasu tengu are busy fussing over her." She lightly touched his right eyelid using her free hand. "Gomen ne, Kimihiro-kun…"

Kimihiro shook his head, holding onto that hand. "No… _I'm_ the one who should say sorry. I was ready to give up more body parts to save Zashiki-warashi. But, Jorougumo said that she didn't want things that I would so readily give up. She also said that I was devaluing Zashiki-warashis efforts to retrieve my eye by harming myself further." He chuckled, tears trailing down his cheeks. "Funny, isn't it? The enemy was the one who opened up my eyes, or my remaining one anyhow." Letting go of her hand, he laid his on her cheek. "Gomen ne, Kagome-chan, for not listening to you. And maybe even Doumeki. I'll try to value myself more from now on."

Kagome smiled. "Yeah, you'd better. If you try to pull this sort of stunt ever again, I'll search for the spell for the subjugation beads Inuyasha wore and make sure to put them on you."

Kimihiro laughed weakly. "Er… yeah…"

She was _definitely_ going to watch over her more closely now. Who knew when he would forget his promise in favour of a more urgent situation?

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

**What do you think of my**** ninth ****chapter? **Please Read and Review**. I would love to know how good and how bad my fics are. If you want to flame me, at least make it constructive criticism.**

I wanted to write a chapter without touching Kimihiro's POV. What do you think of my portrayal of Sesshoumaru, Kagome, Shizuka, Himawari, and Yuuko?

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize f****ro****m the **_**xxxHolic**_**, **_**Inuyasha**_**, and **_**Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles**_** aren't mines; they belong to their respective owners. Anything else belongs to me. **Please ask for permission and getting it before taking my things.

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_May fantasy guide your writing through it all - Dementra_


	10. Dreams of Seers

_**Of Dreams and Wishes**_

Hi! Thanks for wanting to read this fanfic. I hope you like this story.

_Of Dreams and Wishes_ takes place after the _Inuyasha_ series, with changes to its ending and certain details. Also, most of the characters from _Inuyasha_ and _Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles _would not appear as often as the _xxxHolic_ main cast and Kagome.

This fanfic would also mainly follow _xxxHolic _anime with some addition from the , I would be changing the order of the episodes around and wouldn't include all the cases, so don't complain if you find that my fanfic doesn't follow the same chronological order as in the anime and manga.

I find that the whole mess with Kimihiro, Li Syaoran, Li Sakura, Li Tsubasa, and Princess Tsubasa is just _way_ too complicated to put into _Of Dreams and Wishes_ in detail. So, I'm going to heavily gloss over it, and would only be adding the bare necessities where able.

**Sorry about the wait. I got put off from **_**xxxHolic**_** because of the manga chapters posted online. Many of those websites had repeating chapters, wrongly numbered the chapters, and/or ordered the chapters incorrectly. Yeah, basically, it all just put me off of **_**xxxHolic**_** due to frustration. **

**If any of you know any **good** sites to read **_**xxxHolic **_**manga, please tell me. I was trying to find certain events which are only shown in the manga, but the above situation made me really frustrated and I kinda gave up on it. At the moment. **(EDIT: there has been a large update for one of the manga sites, and four volumes had been corrected, though the rest had yet to be.)

**Instead, I got back into the groove by rewatching **_**xxxHolic**_** anime, which took some time since I had other things I needed to do as well. **

**I hope the lengthier chapter would make up for the wait.**

(EDIT: I've added another event at the end. Ending this chapter with Kagome's dark thoughts seemed too dark for this chapter. Besides, I originally wanted the chapter to end on a happier/lighter note. Kagome's nightmare was not originally in my plan. It just wrote itself into here.)

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**Vocabulary**

Hitsuzen — inevitable, fated

Sengoku Jidai — Feudal Era

Shikon no Tama — Jewel of Four Souls

Miko — priestess, shrine maiden

Miko ki – priestess energy

Hanyou — half demon

Youkai — demon

Youki — demon energy

Daiyoukai — great demon

Inu — dog

Kitsune — fox

Kitsune bi — foxfire

Ame-warashi — rain sprite

Zashiki-warashi — vestal sprite; supposed to bring fortune when staying with a household, but fortune declines when zashiki-warashi leaves

Inu no Taishou – Dog General; Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha's father

Okaa / Okaa-chan / Kaa-chan / Okaa-san / Kaa-san / Okaa-sama / Kaa-sama / Hahaue / Mama — mother, in different forms of endearment and respect

Sempai — upperclassmen

Kouhai — underclassmen

Doko da yo — where are you?

Kawaii — cute

Ofuda — protective wards on parchment / paper wards

**Chapter 10 Dreams of Seers**

_Darkness._

_Perpetual darkness as far as she could see._

_There was nothing in this space except for herself and the Shikon no Tama — which hovered before her, pulsing with pink energy, and with an arrow, _her_ arrow, piercing through it. _

_She called for her friends, screaming her throat raw, but there was no reply. She was alone, all alone in this darkness with the cursed object that should've never existed. Her breath quickened by the second, her heart pounding in her chest. She wanted to get out. She _had_ to get out._

_Please! Inuyasha! Sango-chan! Miroku-sama! Somebody! _Anybody_! Help!_

_Tears flowed down her cheeks in rivers and her whole body trembled. _

_Please._

"_Are you scared?" a voice purred. It wasn't anything she had ever heard before. It was as if thousands of voices were saying the same thing at the same time at the same volume. "Do you want to see your friends?"_

_Her eyes fixed upon the Shikon no Tama. There was no doubt in mind that it was the thing speaking._

"_Make a wish. Make a wish to see your friends again."_

_She reached out with a hand. Could she really?_

"_Yessss… just one little wish and you would be able to get out of this darkness. Just one little wish," it cooed._

_No! She retracted her hand, holding it close to her chest, shaking her head. She mustn't. She mustn't. The jewel never granted what one desired. Just look at all the people who had fallen victim to its allure. Nothing good would come from making any wishes other than the _correct_ wish. But what was the correct wish?_

"_Do you really want to stay here in the darkness forever? You won't be able to see any of your friends or family again. With one wish, and you would be able to see the sun again. Say it," the voice hissed. "Say, I wish to see my friends again. Otherwise, you would stay here forever until the day you die, all alone, in this void."_

_All alone…_

XxXxXxXxX

"So, what were you dreaming about this morning?" Kagome asked, propping her head up with her hands, watching her friend cook breakfast. Unlike Yuuko was involved, they tended to take turns making meals. "Your arms were flailing all over the place." She pouted, rubbing her cheek. "And you've even hit me in the face, waking me up."

But, it had been a blessing of sorts. She would rather not know how that nightmare ended. Kagome knew she had an active imagination due to her experiences. For all she knew, that dream could've ended with her succumbing to her weakness, leading to her friends' death while she watched on, unable to help.

His face flushed pink and he rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah… Sorry about that. I dreamt about being chased by a huge shadow." There was a pause. "It turned out to be a gigantic Mokona."

Laughter bubbled up from her throat, filling their little apartment.

"It's not funny, Kagome-chan!" he whined, waving the spatula around. "Dreams are supposed to have some sort of meaning, right? Well, this means that I'm being overworked at the shop!" Kimihiro passed her a plate of pancakes. "How about you? Did you have any dreams last night?"

"Yeah… I dreamt about my final confrontation with the Shikon no Tama." She stared down at her breakfast, absentmindedly pouring syrup onto it. "It was so dark, and I was all alone. The Shikon kept urging me to make to wish, to wish for my friends. It kept telling me that if I don't, I'd stay all alone in that darkness forever." Her lips tugged into a small smile and she looked up, gazing into heterochromatic eyes — one a hazel so light, it seemed gold _(a result of absorbing half of Doumeki-kun's eyesight)_, and the other, a bright blue. "And then I woke up because you accidentally hit me."

He asked, "How did you stand it? If it was me, I probably would've made that wish to see my friends."

Taking a bite of the pancake _(it was delicious! So soft and fluffy and warm!)_, she replied, "I told you, didn't I? In that darkness, just as I was about to give in to my fear, I heard my friends' voices, calling for me. The Shikon probably thought hearing them would tempt me into making that wish, but it actually strengthened my resolve. My friends are very precious to me. They had already suffered enough due to the jewel. And then, the thought came to me. If the jewel disappeared, no one would have to suffer from it anymore. And so I told it my wish. I wished for the Shikon no Tama to disappear forever."

At that time, even though she feared being alone, she had been prepared to live on in the endless darkness if it meant her friends would no longer be troubled by the cursed jewel. There were countless tragedies and bloodshed due to the Shikon no Tama, whether directly or indirectly.

Just what was Midoriko thinking, combining her soul with countless demons' and creating such a powerful object? What drove her to make such a desperate measure? Midoriko definitely hadn't been afraid of death; otherwise, she would've never torn her own soul out. Did she even have any idea what horrors she had condemned millions of innocent lives to?

Regardless, the past couldn't be changed, so there was no point in questioning the dead. She should focus more on the present, especially since she would most likely live to attend their funerals.

Kagome smiled. "Besides, Kimihiro-kun, you are much stronger than you think." _And much more self-sacrificing as well._ "I'm sure you would've made the same wish I did if you were in that situation."

XxXxXxXxX

Yuuko sipped at her sake. Both of her dear employees were growing up so fast; she was almost touched. Having gained more precious people, Watanuki was maturing mentally while his own innate powers were slowly growing from greater exposures to the supernatural. And Kagome was also becoming more comfortable with the abilities the Shikon no Tama had left behind within her.

_The Shikon no Tama, huh?_ She leaned back against her lounge chair and blew out a long trail of tobacco smoke. Even she hadn't been able to completely predict what she had unleashed upon the world when she had first granted Midoriko's wish.

Her original wish was the death of her foes. But, naturally, Yuuko absolutely refused to kill, regardless of the payment offered. So, she gave the miko the original form of the Shikon no Tama, in which Midoriko could her enemies' souls into, at the price of her soul's imprisonment and the continuation of their eternal battle.

Yuuko had originally wanted to keep the jewel in her shop, away from everyone who wanted to use the souls' powers for their own gain. But, a soundless voice, the same one which she associated with hitsuzen, told her not to.

As such, the bloodied reputation of this world's Sengoku Jidai grew to new heights.

She, having moved the shop to another dimension, hadn't bothered to follow the consequences of the jewel's existence except for a glimpse now and then. After all, there really was no taming human and youkai greed. What they did with the Shikon no Tama, and the proceeding costs, was their own fault. She had absolutely no right to strip them of their ability to choose.

Then, hundreds of years later, she came back to this world to prepare for the children sharing the same souls as that spiteful four-eye's cute descendants _(Seriously, how could someone related to _that bastard_ be such darlings? It was just unfair)_.

Then came along Watanuki Kimihiro, a boy she had technically helped give birth to. She didn't bother to watch over him, knowing that hitsuzen would bring him to her shop, where she would prepare him for future events that bastard's annoying relative would undoubtedly force upon their doorsteps.

And so he did.

Yuuko used the excuse of granting his wish _(the payment didn't _have_ to be part-time work)_ in order to keep him by her side. And she also pushed him to solve cases on his own _(with the help of his friends, and occasionally her)_, the simpler ones, of course, even though they may be potentially life-threatening. _(She never gave him ones completely beyond his scoop; _those_ she did while he was away.)_ They helped slowly to hone his abilities and provided him with connections to the other world, a necessity if he chose to stay after the business with that slimy bastard.

She had never thought how much he would change her. It had been a very pleasant surprise. Watanuki brought life and vigour back into her stagnant and consistent shop. Not to mention, he was a good caretaker and playmate for Maru, Moro, and Mokona. She could wake up from this dream without a worry, knowing that he was there by their side. And that Watanuki himself would also have loyal friends accompanying him.

Such as Doumeki Shizuka, grandson of Doumeki Haruka who she had a passing acquaintanceship with before his death. He was the complete opposite of Watanuki in temperament and supernatural abilities, which really helped with balancing the feisty spirit-magnet out. His spirit-repelling aura was especially strong, though he lacked his grandfather's Sight, making him mostly reliant on Watanuki, Kagome, and his own instincts. _(Well, he _was_ getting better at using his powers, enough that he was capable of faintly seeing stronger spirits.)_

He was also strong mentally. Unlike most humans, he didn't _need_ her shop. Even back then when Doumeki had been told Watanuki's right eye couldn't be wished back, he never gave up and relentlessly searched for a way to help the other teen. Like Kagome did, regarding the Shikon no Tama.

Though neither boy would admit it, their strings of fate had around been tied and knotted so much that they could never hope to break free of their connection.

Of course, there was also the one who Watanuki had a crush on — Kunogi Himawari, someone who could never be anyone's goddess of fortune, no matter how much she wished for it. She was a brave thing, constantly wearing a bright smile despite her naturally dark tainted aura. _(And_ naturally_, Watanuki was the only one of the group yet to have discovered that fact.)_ Like Doumeki, her aura also repelled spirits and youkai, but in a totally different way. One day, Watanuki would definitely realize the consequences of being near her.

But until then, Himawari's aura would definitely give him many interesting experiences which he would grow up from. It was all hitsuzen.

Fate had also given her Watanuki another companion.

Higurashi Kagome, unlike Watanuki, had not been predicted, as was her connection to the Shikon no Tama. From the moment they had met, Yuuko sensed that her body's time flowed differently even though she was unquestionably human. Over time, it continued to shift until as slow as daiyoukai, or perhaps even slower _(she hadn't have one handy to make better comparisons)_. Her time to a normal human's would be akin to droplets of water to a river. Unlike Yuuko, whose time had been frozen, Kagome still grew older, just at a different rate. _(She was also starting to get a hang of her authority over the flow of time. Perhaps, one day, that girl would be able to hasten her own time back into a river, fulfilling her wish to grow old with her family.)_

The young miko had survived through much more harsher experiences with the supernatural and was a legend amongst them, so she acted as a sempai for those children regarding the other world, making Yuuko even freer to go about with her private business without interruption.

And, by following the soul-eating parasitic Wings, she had found Him, just as He had found her. The clogs have started to turn again. It was only a matter of time. All four of them, especially Watanuki, had to become stronger — in body, spirit, and mind — in order to combat their incoming obstacles.

Yuuko sighed, breathing out wisps of tobacco smoke. One day, this long-lasting dream would finally end and she would wake up to find that disciple man hovering nearby. And then, maybe, she'd fall asleep again, for another long dream…

But until then, she would take as much amusement as she could from the children, watching as they build their own world.

XxXxXxXxX

_Where was everyone? Weren't they having dinner together just a few seconds ago?_

_He whipped around, seeing only an inky blackness. It was so dark that he couldn't even see his own fingers right in front of his eyes._

"_Kagome-chan!" he hollered, cupping his mouth with both hands to emphasize his voice. "Yuuko-san! Mokona! Maru! Moro! Doko da yo?"_

_His breath hitched. Had he been abandoned by everyone again? No! He didn't want to be alone anymore!_

_Suddenly pink light flashed once in his vision, leaving behind a glowing pink ball hovering before him. "It hurts, does it not? Being alone. It is like being constantly filled with ice water on the inside. But you do not have to feel this way, Watanuki Kimihiro. Come, make a wish. Say that you want to see your friends again."_

_He took a step back, pointing a shaking finger at the object. "Wait… You're the Shikon no Tama, aren't you? Kagome-chan said she had gotten rid of you! What are you doing here?"_

_A chuckle sounded. "Do you really think that human wrench would be able to get rid of me? But you _do_ want to go back to her, do you not? As well as your other friends. Now say it. Make a wish to return to them. Say it!"_

_Backing up, he shook his head. "No. Kagome-chan told me that the Shikon no Tama never gives you what you really want."_

"_Say it! Say it!"_

"_No!"_

"_Then, so be it…"_

_Its pink light darkened to purple and then a glowing purple-black thing started bubbling out from the jewel, eventually enveloping the Shikon whole. The slime-like creature grew bigger and bigger until it was at least two storeys high. With a high-pitched squeal, it launched forwards, sending him running with a yelp._

_He didn't know how long he had been running in this darkness, chased by the monster, but his leg tiring and it was getting closer. Suddenly, one of his knees weakened in mid-dash, causing him to falter and hit the ground. He whimpered as the creature descended upon him, slowly pulling him into its body._

_Clop. Clop. Clop._

_Swish! And a streak of yellow light._

_Kreeeeee!_

_The weight on his back vanished, and he blinked blearily at his saviour — an archer with a very familiar face riding a white horse. Dou… me… ki? was his last thought as his consciousness faded away into the darkness._

XxXxXxXxX

Yuuko explained that he had had fulfilling dream, a dream which became the same as the reality that followed it. He had heard the contents of Kagome, Himawari, and Doumeki's dreams, and then by sharing his handmade food, he had unknowingly paid his friends for their dreams and made them his own.

The unrelenting darkness and the Shikon no Tama stemmed from Kagome's dream. Himawari's contributed the monster. And his saviour turned out to be Doumeki's grandfather, Doumeki Haruka, whom Doumeki had dreamt about the night before.

Pointing at the object he was holding, Yuuko said, "You should sell that arrow."

It was something Kaogme had found clutched in her friend's hand when she found him lying facedown in the kitchen. The arrow held lingering traces of the a hers and Kimihiro's energy and an aura very similar to Doumeki's, which should belong to his grandfather if what Yuuko said was true.

Fulfilling dreams… hadn't she read about that in a book somewhere? From what she remembered, not everyone was capable of buying raw dreams. It took power and a certain affinity for dreams. _(There were those who could cultivate raw dreams and would sell the finishing products, which were often used to banish nightmares, for a right price.)_ Could this be Kimihiro's latent ability?

She was definitely going to do more research after this.

"Sell it to whom?" he asked.

"The Dream Merchant."

They followed Yuuko out of her shop and into the streets. She tapped her chin with a finger. "Well then, I wonder where he is right now." Looking at Kimihiro, the Dimension Witch smiled. "Let's have the arrow search for him."

She ran a finger along its shaft, making it glow and sparkle light blue. The arrow then flew up from his hand and spun around in the air like a compass needle going out of whack, eventually coming to a stop

"That way, huh?" Just as Kimihiro was about to walk ahead, Yuuko reached out and grasped the back of his collar, stopping him in his tracks. "Not that way. We're going over here," she said, gesturing at the arrow, which was pointing at the spot between a nearby lamppost and the wall, a space was barely half his body's width.

Seeing her friend's scepticism, Kagome took the incentive, turned her body sideways, and squeezed herself through. As she soon she passed the lamppost, the flow of time around her abruptly shifted, even though her surroundings seemed the same to her eyes. Time was slower here. Well, no, not exactly. It was more like the flow had calmed down, though its speed remained similar.

"Just now, I felt something weird," Kimihiro commented, glancing back at the lamppost

Yuuko smiled. "This is another world, one different from our own." The arrow ceased to glow and fell back into Kimihiro's hands. She pointed upwards. "That's why… Look. He's here."

A grey-skinned humanoid creature, which seemed to be a cross between a hippocampus and a horse, floated above them, holding onto a bunch of glowing balloons. There was no youki, so he wasn't a youkai. But he also felt different from Ame-warashi and Zashiki-warashi. Just what was he?

"What is that?" Kimihiro exclaimed, gaining the creature's attention.

Yuuko waved at him while explaining, "He's the Dream Merchant. His business is buying dreams, raising them, and reselling them."

The Dream Merchant landed in front of them, smiling. "Well, if it isn't Yuuko-han! It's been quite a while."

"How's business been?"

As they continued their small talk, Kagome took the time to observe the balloons he was holding. They all contained a similar base energy to that of Kimihiro's arrow, though they all had traces of different auras. Some also felt purer than others. Were these the dreams Yuuko had mentioned?

Suddenly, the Dream Merchant gave a cry of delight, holding out his arms and speed-walking over to a startled Kimihiro. "Mister, that… that… that… that… that… That arrow!" he exclaimed, jumping up and down on his short legs, clawing at Kimihiro's shirt, trying to reach his desired object. "Is that your dream?"

"Not exactly…" her friend said.

"Please sell it to me!"

Kagome stifled a squeal. Kawaii! The Dream Merchant looked so much like Shippou-chan when her little kitsune was pleading for more candy _(or ninja food as he usually called them)_.

"Please sell me that piece of a dream. That's the kind of valuable dream that's so rare lately." The Dream Merchant sat down, ears twitching with agitation. "Ah… I guess you can't sell it that easily. Can't be helped!" he exclaimed, slapping a hand, paw, on his knee. The Dream Merchant bounced up and held out two of his balloons. "These are my super-specially-reserved valuable dreams, and two of them!"

Her friend just stared at the little guy. "Ah… but…" Kagome giggled. Poor Kimihiro. He probably had no clue what was going on. He and the Dream Merchant were currently running on two completely different trains of thoughts.

"Is this still not enough?" His face scrunched up. "Then three!" He seemed to be almost crying over the thought of giving out that many balloons.

"Like I'm trying to say…"

Then Yuuko cut in. "A dream buyer of your calibre should be able to recognize the worth of this dream arrow." The Dream Merchant froze. She laid a hand on his shoulder and drew circles on his snout with a finger. "If you let it go here, you might not get another chance to buy it," she cooed.

"You corrupted salesperson," Kimihiro grumbled.

Yuuko looked over the balloons the merchant was holding. "That one, and that one, and… that one… and that one! Six all together!" she announced, wearing a wide grin. All of the ones she had chosen felt pure to Kaogme's senses.

"Those are the super special dreams I raised so carefully!" the Dream Merchant complained.

She didn't have an ounce of remorse when she replied, "That's exactly why they are a suitable price for this arrow."

Kagome glanced at Kimihiro's arrow. Was it really _that_ valuable?

"Take it, you robber!" the merchant shouted, voice trembling with frustration, as he exchanged six balloons with the arrow before Kimihiro knew it. He kneeled on the ground, crying. "I just can't compare to you, Yuuko-han."

"It was a good bargain, wasn't it?" she said cheerfully.

Wiping away his tears, the Dream Merchant pushed the arrow into a new balloon. When it was completely absorbed, the balloon glowed bright enough to rival a star. "It definitely was," he said, replying back to her question. "That's Yuuko-han for you. You're truly a connoisseur. It really is a great dream. I can't help but look forward to raising it."

Its aura was very pure, probably the result of the combination of hers, Kimihiro and Doumeki's grandfather's auras.

Yuuko smiled. "Since you're the one who is going to raise it, I'm sure it'd become an extremely valuable dream able to dispatch any nightmare or evil omen."

Before they left that world _(from the space _under_ a fence of all places!)_, Kimihiro handed the Dream Merchant a balloon, as a gift to the kitsune kit, since he was heading over to the Kitsune Oden Noodle Shop._ (Some time ago, the kitsune had helped out Kimihiro and he hadn't had the chance to thank him yet.)_ To which, he was praised by the merchant for having both a rare valuable dream and a rare heart.

Since it was late, both of them stayed over at Yuuko's shop for the night. _(Yuuko took two of the remaining five balloons for herself, while Kimihiro gave one to Kagome.)_

XxXxXxXxX

_A fresh breeze entered the room and Kimihiro opened his eyes, only to see a broad back. When his mind finally registered a stranger sitting right outside of his room, he quickly sat up. "Doumeki…?" The man smiled at him. No… Even though they wore the same face… "You're not him. Are you, by any chance, Doumeki's grandfather, Doumeki Haruka?" He looked like he was in his early to mid thirties or so._

"_Is Shizuka hard to deal with?" the man asked in return, smoke blowing into the room from the cigarette his was holding. _

_He blinked. "Shizuka? Oh. Doumeki's first name," he muttered to himself. "Well, I don't know if you could call him 'hard to deal with', or if it's that I just don't understand him… He always has a terrible attitude, and even so, he always gets himself involved halfway though." Kimihiro touched his right eye. "This eye, too…"_

_Haruka smiled. "That's something Shizuka chose."_

"_Even so…" He stared down at the futon. "For someone to put himself in an unrecoverable situation for my sake…" Why was everyone trying to protect him, often at the cost of themselves? First, there were his parents. Then Kagome-chan. And now Doumeki, and even Zashiki-warashi… Why? Why would they do something like that? "I don't like it."_

_The man chuckled. "Shizuka is tough. After all, when he was young…" He held out a picture — a picture of a young girl in a furisode._

_No way… That couldn't be… Doumeki!_

"_Eh!"_

POP! went one of his dream balloons.

XxXxXxXxX

_A familiar aura brushed over her. She turned over to the other side and snuggled into her futon. "Cut it out, Inuyasha," she mumbled. Wait. Inuyasha? Kagome jerked out from her sleep and whipped her head around to see a very familiar figure._

"_Inuyasha…" she breathed out. "Inuyasha!" The miko launched herself halfway across the room and into her best friend's arms. "Inuyasha, I missed you." She said, nuzzling into his firerat coat and inhaling his very familiar scent. "I missed you _sooo_ much!"_

"_Keh…" Clawed hands patted her back. "I missed you too wrench. All of us did."_

_Kagome looked up — light purple staring into gold. "If I could've stayed, I would have!"_

_He smiled. "I know." Inuyasha hardly ever smiled — frown, yes; smirk, especially during battles and after he had defeated an opponent; scowl, definitely; but smiles? — he had undoubtedly grown softer over the years._

_She licked her lips. "I… the Shikon no Tama… um…"_

_The inu hanyou patted her head. "We know. Everyone was watching over you. They would be here too if they could. But this is _our_ dream, yours and mines. One day, you'd be able to find the dreams they've left behind and you'd be able to talk to them as well."_

_That settled it. She was definitely looking through all the books she could get her hands on regarding dreams. She had to learn how to judge the value of different dreams so that she could trade them for her friends'. _

"_You should tell your family about what the Shikon did to you," Inuyasha said, tracing the edge of her light purple eyes, the physical proof of the jewel's lingering presence within her. "They'd understand. You know that they would. Your gramps would probably smack an ofuda or two on you, but he wouldn't shun you. And your mother would definitely be the last one to turn you away, even if she had to slowly come to terms with it first. Your kid brother would think it's very cool, though he wouldn't fully understand it until he truly compares your growth rate in the future."_

_She laughed. That was true…_

"_Your friends wouldn't reject you either. That kid you're living with… He might freak out for a bit at first, but he wouldn't care. And that other boy. He'd take it in stride like he did with everything else. That girl with the nasty aura knows the pain of being rejected for something she couldn't help. But…"_

_Inuyasha flexed his claws, bearing his fangs in a bloodthirsty smirk. "If _any_ of them _dare_ to turn you away, I'd somehow find a way to get back at them for you."_

_Kagome smiled, leaning against his warmth. "Thank you, Inuyasha."_

POP!

XxXxXxXxX

Kohane stared up at the sakura tree where the spirit of a woman wearing a pretty furisode resided. She wasn't harming anyone; she just loved the tree and wanted to stay here. Moreover, the spirit's presence was the only thing keeping the old tree from withering. And yet, the TV crew was going to come here soon, disturbing this peace, to watch her send the spirit away.

It was such a pity. If only she hadn't come to this place, then the spirit wouldn't have to leave and the tree could be blooming forever

Two auras brushed against her senses — one a strange purity which she had never felt before, not even from a temple; and the other very similar to her own. Kohane turned around to see two teenagers. The owner of the pure aura had really pretty purple eyes which swirled with an energy which couldn't be called pure or tainted. It was more like a natural energy which existed everywhere, but Kohane just couldn't put a name on it. Her soul seemed really sad though, tainted by… blood? How could someone with such pure aura have a similar taint in her soul as a murderer's? It shouldn't be possible. She didn't understand it at all.

Her companion, on the other hand, was akin to herself in that his aura, too, called upon spirits, though he didn't seem to be able to exorcise them like she could. Instead, he was wearing a bracelet, woven from tree bark, which was filled with the girl's pure energy as a form of protection, and possible, exorcism tool.

The boy walked up to her, but before he could reach her, he was interrupted by a voice. "Don't touch her!" kaa-san exclaimed, standing between them, holding her arms out as to shield her. Kohane would have frowned if she still remembered how to express her emotions through her facial features. Kaa-san, whom she loved and hated, was once again reminding her of her detestable invisible cage.

"Don't come any closer to her!" kaa-san scowled, both hands propped up on her hips. "You saw her on TV, right? Then you must know. Her power dissipates when people touch her."

Just as Kohane was about to tell her mother to stop, the girl stepped forward, flames burning in her eyes though her voice was as cool as winter. "Ma'am, I'd appreciate it if you don't yell at my friend. Neither of us own a TV so this is the first time we've ever seen this child."

But when her mother got into an angry rant, she was hard to stop. "Goodness, I can't let my guard down for a moment. Even when I've specifically instructed that I don't want ignorant people near her," kaa-san sighed. "Since they said it was here this time, I had to go along with it."

"Kaa-san," Kohane said softly, reaching out towards her mother. However, her hand was immediately slapped away, and kaa-san turned widened eyes over to her with a gasp. It hurt, even though she should've been used to this.

Her mother smiled shakily down at her, eyebrows furrowed. "A-ah, what is it? What's wrong?"

_Your behaviour… Your absentness in my life even though you are physically with me… You using my abilities to make money and obtain fame… Your obsession of what is considered impure and pure… Everything that has been purposefully kept away from me because you wanted to keep me and my powers "pure"… Your lack of understanding… My loneliness… My disapproval of you treating others this way… especially when the other person had a similar aura… Everything…_

Kohane didn't voice out any of her thoughts, staring into distant green eyes instead.

"Th-that's right, we should be heading back home," her mother said when she didn't reply. Kohane sensed her hand hovering behind her, several inches away, giving an illusion of guiding her by gently pushing her back. She let her, knowing better than to protest.

As they walked past their audience, Kohane said, "It's not like you don't understand anything, right?"

They were lucky. All three of them were connected to the other world, but neither teens were put into the same restraints as she had.

It would be nice if they could meet again, without any interference…

XxXxXxXxX

"Himawari-chan can't come today because she's helping the teacher," Kimihiro moaned, sitting down on the stairs in-between Kagome and Doumeki, who was already helping himself to the bento.

Swallowing a piece of eggplant tempera, Kagome glanced over at the stoic boy. "Is something wrong? You've been staring at Kimihiro-kun for a few minutes now?"

"Yesterday, I saw a girl standing underneath a sakura tree." Doumeki pointed at him with his chopsticks. "With this eye."

Upon realizing what he meant, Kimihiro instantly covered his right eye, _Doumeki's_ half-eye, with his hand. "No way…" he breathed out, "You can see the things I can with this eye?"

But, it did sort of make sense. After all, didn't he also see strange images back then when his eye had been taken but not yet eaten? And he also saw exactly what his right eye did when Jorougumo swallowed it — into the darkness of her mouth and sliding down her esophagus, before a warm bright pink light enveloped its world. The odd sensation he felt before Kagome's arrow pierced through the youkai still gave him the creeps when he thought about it.

"It seems so," the glutton replied, chewing on food. "Who was that girl?"

"She's from the paranormal program Himawari-chan was talking about." Kimihiro glanced at the other boy. "But it's not like you can always see through this eye, right?" He had only gotten flashes of images from time to time, even though his entire eye had been taken. Doumeki had only given him half of his eye, so the effect should be less, shouldn't it?

When Doumeki affirmed his question, he asked, "But you didn't see when I met your grandfather in my dream right?"

This time it was Kagome who answered. "Kimihiro-kun, that wouldn't be possible since you don't use your physical eye when dreaming. Your spirit would also have to be connected in order to do so. Well, you could also drag a person into a dream if you know how."

Kimihiro hmmed. "What about that small spirit I saw on the way home from school last week?

"Didn't see it," Doumeki replied.

He frowned, titling his head slightly to the side. "Then I don't get it…" Just what rules did his golden-hazel eye follow?

"What was it like when you saw the spirit last week?"

It had been a small thing, not even reaching his knees — two wiggling appendages which seemed like arms of sort, legless like a snail, one gigantic eye which made up half of its body, and no other facial features. There was nothing frightening about it, even without the protection of the bracelet Kagome gave him. The spirit watched him for a bit before sliding away.

And he told Doumeki so.

The taller male looked at him. "If so, then the other condition might be you. Maybe it's when your emotions fluctuate greatly that I would be able to see through your eye."

Kagome nodded. "That made sense. Our reiki is deeply tied with our emotions. If you feel surprised, scared or angry, your reiki naturally rises as a defence mechanism. The connection between your right eyes might strengthen whenever that happens, allowing Doumeki-kun to see what Kimihiro-kun sees."

XxXxXxXxX

Kimihiro sighed, staring up at the ceiling of their darkened room, thinking of the young spiritual cleanser he had met earlier this evening — Tsuyuri Kohane. He still couldn't get over what he had seen and heard. Yesterday, her mother had raved on about how Kohane's power would be disrupted if she was touched; and he had seen for himself just how that woman absolutely refused to touch her own daughter. And today, Kohane-chan had told him that it had been a long time since anyone had called her by her name — even with her own _mother_ by her side. Hell, even Doumeki was called Shizuka by his family, as stoic as that teen was.

A hand laid on his — purple meeting gold and blue. "Don't worry, Kimihiro-kun. Yuuko-san told us, didn't she? She said that hitsuzen has tied you together, so you'd definitely be able to meet Kohane-chan again in the near future."

He smiled. "Yeah…" Though Yuuko had never claimed to have the gift of foresight, her warnings and messages about hitsuzen always came true.

XxXxXxXxX

Kohane hugged the dry umbrella as she lied in bed, waiting for the sweet call of sleep. She had sneaked out of the house a few hours ago, despite the heavy rain, to visit the spirit at the sakura tree, hoping that she would be able to meet those two again. Her wish had been fulfilled when familiar auras brushed against her own and the rain was cut off overhead by the same umbrella she was holding now.

"Watanuki… Kimihiro…" she murmured, nuzzling the umbrella he had given her. He was the first person in a very long time to say her name — his companion being the second one. Kagome was kind, just as her pure aura implied. She had washed her body with her warm pink energy, dispelling the cold she had felt from standing in the rain for so long.

As she had expected the first time they had met, both of them were like her — they could see the spirit in the sakura tree as clear as day. They _understood_ her, something that hardly anyone could say the same..

Not even her own mother.

When she had come back from the temple where the spirit had moved to, her mother had said — "Why didn't you tell me. I'll go with you."

_With me? No. Kaa-san is not with me. She is just here._

"Watanuki… Kimihiro… Higurashi… Kagome…"

She wanted to see them again.

XxXxXxXxX

_The earth shook beneath thundering hoofs and war cries pierced through still air, sending the villagers running and screaming in fear. Relentless fire easily ate through the dry wooden houses and straws, lighting up the darkened sky, filling it with smoke and smog. _

_Night bandits had arrived…_

_Kagome had stayed behind in the hut to guard Shippou-chan and their host — a pregnant woman who didn't care that some of their members were youkai and had sheltered them from the earlier storm. Inuyasha, Miroku-sama, Sango-chan, and Kirara were more suited to deal with humans than she was and were out there defending against their new enemies._

_The reed door sliced opened, revealing the ugly mug of a night bandit. He glanced around the hut, and upon seeing her, licked his lips. "I'll have fun with ya, little missy."_

_She stood up, arrow notched in her bow. "Shippou-chan! Run away! Protect Tomiko-san!"_

"_But Kagome!"_

"_Go!"_

"_Kitsune bi! Come, Tomiko-san, let's go!"_

_The night bandit didn't even spare the escaping duo a glance; his leering eyes wandering over her body, making her feel really dirty. She was _soooo_ going to take a few hours bath after this, preferably at a hot spring._

_Without another thought, she aimed and fired in the direction of his leg, but he wasn't an experienced bandit for nothing. He knocked the incoming arrow away with his katana. The bandit — revealing his crocked yellow teeth — lunged at her, making her hit the wooden floors with the weight of his body, pinning her down._

_She desperately tried to push him away, fending off his disgusting wandering hands. One of her flailing hands brushed against a hilt against his legs. Without thinking, she pulled out the knife and thrust it into her attacker's neck. The blade slid through soft flesh, lodging in his spine. Warmth flowed down her hands, seeping in her clothes, and splattered onto her face. But she didn't notice any of that. All she saw was the widened eyes filled with pain, staring into hers._

XxXxXxXxX

Kagome woke up with a gasp, cold sweat dotting her paled skin, heartbeat thundering in her ears. She took deep breaths to calm herself down. When her heart finally stopped pounding in her ribcage as violently, the young miko shakily got up to her feet, and using the walls as support, she made her way to the kitchen, careful not to wake her roommate up.

Sitting down on a chair, Kagome stared down at her hands, hands which were dyed red in her mind's eye. Yuuko-san had once told her that she absolutely refused to kill because it would leave an eternal stain on one's soul and payments must be made for murder. It didn't matter who the victim was, human or youkai; and Kagome had both in her mountain of corpses, though only a handful had been humans._ (They all took care not to kill living humans — resurrected humans were a different story. Still, sometimes, they either somehow stood in the way of an already unleashed attack or they had been too mentally gone to ease on their assault.)_

She hated killing. But, in Sengoku Jidai, it was often kill or be killed. Only the fittest survived.

Ever since coming back to this relatively more peaceful time period, only one corpse had been added to her mountain — Jorougumo. But it was alright… As long as none of her friends ever stained their body and soul with blood, she did not mind furthering her own condemnation.

Besides, all of her family, youkai or human, from Sengoku Jidai suffered the same; it wouldn't be fair to them if she stayed on the sidelines, just to keep herself pure from the taint of blood. One day, when she finally passed from this world _(whether from old age or from being killed)_, maybe she would meet them again on the other side, at a place where all with such taint ended _(Not that she actually knew what the afterlife was like, other than Inu no Taishou's grave)_.

Or maybe, she would instead fall into the Hell Hitomiko-sama had shown her back then, when she first discovered her unique power which stemmed from her name. Then again, her name came about because mama had seen the shape called Kagome glowing on her chest as a newborn, possibly a result of having been born with the Shikon no Tama.

In the end, her entire life was always somehow influenced by the cursed jewel — her name, her physical resemblance to Kikyou, her miko abilities in a world where it had mostly died out, her adventures in Sengoku Jidai, the friends she had made, the blood she had shed, her immunity to time.

But why?

As Yuuko-san often said — there were no coincidences in this world; everything was hitsuzen.

So, why was she given such strong ties with the Shikon no Tama? Why was she given the gift, and curse, of near immortality?

XxXxXxXxX

The clacking of mahjong tiles filled the air as they played under the blooming sakura trees, over-watched by the spirit which was originally living in the sakura tree at the park. Yuuko was in the lead, followed by Mokona, while Shizuka and the Kimihiro-Kagome pair _(as both were novices, the former more so then the latter) _closely battled for second-last.

_(Kagome and Shizuka now called each other by their first names after the night when Kimihiro, still having conflicting thoughts over Kohane's revelation, had asked the exorcist regarding what the people close to him address him as. It was Kagome who first brought it up — how he was the only friend she still addressed by his family name — and he had agreed to it. Well, it was more like Shizuka didn't really mind either way while Kagome had to convince/bully him into using her first name.)_

Alas, victory was not meant to be, and they had ended up in last place.

But, at least, the woman's spirit had been appeased by the clacking sounds of mahjong _(which, as explained by Yuuko, were said to bring good fortune and tranquility and could become a farewell present to the deceased) _and ascended to the heavens. Sakura petals were swept up by a brief gust of wind, whirling around them, softly brushing against their cheeks in farewell.

It was peaceful times like this that made her forget all her worries and strive, soothing her heart and soul.

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

**What do you think of my**** tenth ****chapter? **Please Read and Review**. I would love to know how good and how bad my fics are. If you want to flame me, at least make it constructive criticism.**

What do you think about my take on the dreams, Kimihiro, Kagome, Yuuko, and Kohane?

Just a reminder of my earlier request at the beginning of this chapter:

"If any of you know any **good** sites to read _xxxHolic _manga, please tell me. I was trying to find certain events which are only shown in the manga, but the above situation made me really frustrated and I kinda gave up on it. At the moment."

(EDIT: messes up the links in reviews. If you have a link to send me, please include spaces or something to make it not seem like a website.)

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize f****ro****m the **_**xxxHolic**_**, **_**Inuyasha**_**, and **_**Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles**_** aren't mines; they belong to their respective owners. Anything else belongs to me. **Please ask for permission and getting it before taking my things.

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

_May fantasy guide your writing through it all - Dementra_


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